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ILLINOIS 

A  Romantic  Story 
for  Young  People 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign 


http://archive.org/details/illinoisromanticOOmcsp 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


ILLINOIS 

cA  Romantic  Story 
for  young  People 

f  By    J.Walker  M^Spadden, 

<£     Illustrated  bvfiy/' 
*-4ff  Howard  AC  Hastings 


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1^  4^ 


J.RSMRS;£  COMPANYtlNC 

YORK. 


Copyright,  1926,  by 
J.  H.  SEARS  &  CO.,  Incorporated 


Set  up,   Printed  and   Bound   at  the 
KINGSPORT      PRESS 
Kingsport        Tennessee 
United  States  of  America 


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3 


FOREWORD 

to 

Romantic  Stories  of  the  States 


x- 


Breathes  there  the  man  with  soul  so  dead 
Who  never  to  himself  hath  said: 

"This  is  my  own,  my  native  land"  ? 
Whose  heart  hath  ne'er  within  him  burned 
As  home  his  footsteps  he  hath  turned, 

From  wandering  on  a  foreign  strand  ? 

— Sir  Walter  Scott. 


This  series  of  ''Romantic  Stories  of  the  States"  is  ad- 
dressed to  everyone,  young  and  old,  who  is  not  "dead 
of  soul,"  as  Scott  so  aptly  put  it  a  century  ago.  Most 
of  us  would  resent  being  called  unpatriotic,  and  yet  how 
many  of  us  know  the  story  of  our  native  State?  How 
many  of  us  have  stopped  to  trace  the  colorful  adventures 
of  the  hardy  pioneer  fathers  and  mothers  who  laid  the 
first  hearthstones  in  the  wilderness? 

If  we  trace  the  story  of  each  one  of  our  States  back  to 
Colonial  times,  we  find  that  the  well-springs  of  history 
bubble  over  with  adventure  and  romance.  Truth  is  in- 
deed stranger  than  fiction,  as  the  reader  will  find  repeat- 
edly in  following  these  tales  of  bygone  days.  And  in 
the  writing  of  them  we  have  adhered  closely  to  historic 
fact,  oftentimes  gathering  the  local  color  from  some 
ancient  volume  which  was  published  only  a  few  years 

5 


6  FOREWORD 

after  the  occurrences — as  for  example,  the  narrative  of 
the  travels  of  the  explorer  himself. 

In  each  instance  the  story  is  followed  from  earliest 
Colonial  times  to  the  dawn  of  Statehood.  We  enter 
the  primeval  forest  or  the  pathless  plain,  and  we  wit- 
ness, step  by  step,  its  slow  emergence  and  transformation 
into  a  busy,  thriving  commonwealth.  This  book  is  not 
intended  as  a  history,  so  much  as  a  series  of  historic  in- 
cidents, or  sidelights  which  reveal  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

It  is  addressed  both  to  young  folks  who  revel  in  ad- 
venture and  to  their  elders — the  man  and  woman  who 
hark  back  with  pride  to  their  native  heath,  although 
they  may  have  been  absent  from  it  for  many  long  years, 
and  who  want  their  children  to  know  something  of  its 
rich  past.  To  all  such  we  hope  the  book  will  come  with 
the  memory-laden  fragrance  of  a  breeze  from  the 
mountains  or  across  the  prairies  "back  home." 

To  still  a  third  group  of  readers,  this  series  is  offered — 
the  harassed  teacher  or  librarian  who  is  often  asked 
questions  in  regard  to  local  history.  They  know  that 
while  it  is  easy  enough  to  get  material  about  the  United 
States  as  a  whole,  the  occurrence  closest  home  is  often 
the  most  elusive. 

These  stories  may  be  called  adventures  in  patriotism. 
They  are  culled  from  a  wealth  of  material  in  our  heroic 
past,  in  the  hope  and  belief  that  they  will  bring  back  to 
us  all,  whether  young  or  old,  something  of  the  rich 
heritage  which  clings  to  our  native  soil. 

J.  W.  McS. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Before  the  White  Men  Came 11 

II.    The  Coming  of  Father  Marquette 22 

III.  La  Salle,  the  Empire  Builder 45 

IV.  The  First  French  Towns 66 

V.     How  the  French  Lost  Illinois 76 

VI.     George    Rogers    Clark    Hauls    Down    the 

British  Flag 85 

VII.    The  Northwest  Territory 97 

VIII.     The  Fort  Dearborn  Massacre 108 

IX.    The  Dawn  of  Statehood  117 

Poem,  "Illinois" 125 

Milestones    127 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


The  Massacre  of  Fort  Dearborn Frontispiece 

Indian  mounds  near  Cahokia   11 

Marquette  waved  the  calumet  or  peace  pipe 17 

Occasionally  he  would  have  to  carry  his  canoe 25 

Thousands  of  wild  fowl  rose  with  hoarse  cries 31 

Joliet  and  Father  Marquette   39 

Robert  Cavalier  de  La  Salle 47 

The  men  would  struggle  ashore 53 

A  third  time  La  Salle  essayed  the  journey 63 

The  cabins  were  made  of  logs 69 

Their  plows  were  quite  simple 73 

French  and  Indians  fought  side  by  side   79 

George  Rogers  Clark 87 

Down  the  current  swirled  the  four  clumsy  flatboats 89 

Every  scout  loaded  down  with  game 93 

"Go !"  he  said,  with  contempt  in  his  voice 99 

One  man  had  to  keep  constantly  on  watch   105 

The  men  united  to  roll  the  logs  in  place 113 

Battles  were  fought  at  Prairie  du  Chien 119 


ILLINOIS 

A  Romantic  Story  for  Young  People 
CHAPTER  I 

BEFORE  THE  WHITE  MEN  CAME 

I  THINK  it's  a  shame !"  said  Howard  Ferguson, 
sighing  dismally  as  he  looked  across  at  the  last 
glow  of  sunset  in  the  western  sky.     In  spite  of 
the  beauty  of  the  picture,  he  felt  abused. 
There  were  only  six  days  left  to  them,  out  of  the 

11 


12  ILLINOIS 

joyous  month  of  camping  out.  Every  year  for  the 
past  five  years  the  Fergusons  had  camped  on  this 
wooded  knoll  near  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River, 
and  they  had  come  to  love  it  as  their  very  own. 
Howard  and  his  sister  Edna  fairly  lived  in  their 
canoe,  except  for  those  royal  times  when  they  went 
tramping  and  camping  in  the  woods  with  their 
Uncle  John.  He  knew  every  trail,  every  tree,  and 
every  bird,  and  it  was  like  a  story  book  to  have  him 
along.  But  now  as  he  sat  by  their  campfire  after 
supper,  Howard  realized  with  a  pang  that  Summer 
was  nearly  over. 

"What's  the  matter,  young  'un?"  asked  Uncle 
John,  coming  up  with  an  armload  of  wood — though 
he  half  suspected  what  was  the  trouble. 

"Oh,  it  has  been  so  fine,  living  out  here  in  the  open 
like  Indians — and  next  week  school  begins.  I  don't 
want  to  go  back  and  live  in  houses,  and  cook  on  gas 
stoves,  and  do  arithmetic  sums,  and " 

"Same  here!"  said  Edna.  "We're  too — too  civi- 
lized, that's  what!  I  wouldn't  have  minded  being 
an  Indian  myself,  and  living  out  here  in  the  woods, 
three  hundred  years  ago." 

Uncle  John  chuckled.  "I  guess  you  would  have 
found  things  a  bit  different  then :  no  roads,  no  auto- 
mobiles— not  even  wagons — no  trains,  no  towns  such 
as  we  have,  no  farms — nothing  except  dense  forests 
or  luxuriant  prairies,  through  which  the  buffalo  and 
other  animals,  big  and  little,  roamed.  It  was  a 
happy  hunting  ground  for  the  Indians,  but,  sad  to 


BEFORE  THE  WHITE  MEN  CAME      13 

say,  they  did  not  live  at  peace  with  one  another. 
These  lands  bordering  on  the  Illinois  were  the  scenes 
of  many  fights." 

"Oh,  Uncle  John,  tell  us  about  the  Indians!"  said 
both  children,  almost  together,  and  forgetting  their 
blues  of  a  moment  before. 

Uncle  John  put  a  fresh  chunk  of  wood  on  the  fire, 
causing  it  to  blaze  up  brightly. 

"Where  shall  I  begin?"  he  asked. 

"Well,"  said  Howard  slowly,  "why  not  begin  with 
the  tribes  that  lived  right  around  here,  before  there 
were  any  white  men.  Weren't  they  called  the 
Illinois,  and  wasn't  that  how  our  State  got  its  name?" 

"Right-o,"  agreed  Uncle  John.  "The  Illinois 
were  living  right  around  here,  where  we  are  now 
camping,  long  before  the  first  white  explorers  came. 
They  were  really  a  union  of  six  tribes,  all  of  Algon- 
quin stock.  I  don't  know  whether  you  can  remem- 
ber these  long  names,  or  not,  but  the  tribes  were 
called  Cahokia,  Kaskaskia,  Michigamea,  Moin- 
gwena,  Peoria,  and  Tamaroa.  At  least  three  of  them 
you  can't  forget,  as  they  gave  their  names  to  impor- 
tant settlements  connected  with  our  early  history. 

"The  Illinois  Indians  are  described  by  the  early 
writers,  as  tall  and  of  fine  bodily  powers.  Brought 
up  as  they  were,  from  childhood,  to  undergo  long 
marches,  to  hunt  the  deer  on  foot,  and  to  rival  the 
fox  in  cunning,  they  became  skilled  hunters  and 
foemen  to  be  dreaded.  They  were  expert  archers, 
and  could  hit  a  squirrel  in  the  head,  though  it  was 


14  ILLINOIS 

in  the  topmost  branch  of  a  tree,  or  bring  down  a 
buffalo  on  the  gallop,  a  hundred  paces  away.  They 
also  used  in  war  a  kind  of  lance  and  a  wooden  club, 
as  well  as  a  tomahawk. 

"They  were  said  not  to  be  as  brave,  however,  as 
some  of  the  fierce  northern  tribes,  such  as  the  Sioux, 
the  Sacs,  and  the  Foxes.  When  any  of  them  came 
down  from  what  is  now  Wisconsin  and  Northern 
Illinois,  the  southern  tribes  would  hastily  gather  up 
all  their  possessions,  and  strike  the  trail  for  Iowa, 
across  the  'Great  Water/  as  the  Mississippi  was 
called,  or  go  further  south  toward  the  Ohio  River. 
Sometimes,  when  cornered,  they  stood  their  ground 
and  fought  fiercely;  but  usually  they  preferred  to 
fight  from  ambush,  or  run  away  altogether.  Their 
houses  were  easily  moved,  anyway,  and  there  was 
good  hunting  in  any  part  of  the  country.  All  Indians 
were  rovers,  and  their  towns,  so-called,  were  just 
collections  of  huts  hastily  thrown  together." 

"I  thought  Indians  lived  in  wigwams,"  said 
Howard. 

"So  many  of  them  did,  especially  in  Summer;  but 
in  Winter  they  liked  something  warmer  and  more 
snow  or  rain-proof.  An  early  explorer,  Hennepin, 
says  that  they  had  cabins  made  like  long  arbors  and 
covered  with  double  mats  of  rushes,  so  well  sewed 
that  no  wind  or  rain  could  ever  get  into  them. 
These  cabins  were  long  and  narrow,  with  room  for 
several  open  fireplaces.  One  fire  was  allowed  to 
each    family — sometimes    two    families,    if    small, 


BEFORE  THE  WHITE  MEN  CAME     15 

sharing  the  same  fire — so  that  from  six  to  ten 
families  would  occupy  the  same  cabin.  But  this  was 
usually  in  Winter-time.  In  Summer,  the  wigwam,  or 
a  shelter  made  from  poles,  with  skins  stretched 
across,  made  as  good  a  home  as  any  of  them  could 
desire;  and  the  cooking  was  done  outside.  There 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  attempt  to  enclose 
their  towns  by  fences,  or  palisades,  so  they  gave  no 
protection  from  the  enemy  if  he  surprised  them. 
They  trusted  to  their  scouts  to  prevent  this,  and 
when  a  fight  was  on,  the  braves  ran  for  a  tree  or 
log,  or  bit  of  brush,  and  fought  behind  that.  I 
don't  suppose  the  women  and  children  were  very 
happy,  when  one  of  these  sudden  fights  occurred. 

"That  is  probably  why  the  six  tribes  banded  to- 
gether. Their  numbers  gave  them  protection,  and 
the  rascally  Sioux  would  think  twice  before  tackling 
so  many." 

"Weren't  there  some  still  earlier  people  who  lived 
here  before  the  Indians?"  asked  Howard.  "You 
showed  us  some  mounds  once,  and  said  they  were 
made  by  the  Mound  Builders." 

"I'm  glad  you  spoke  of  that,"  answered  his  Uncle. 
"The  mounds  are  the  most  interesting  relics  we  now 
have,  of  the  early  people,  and  they  have  caused  wiser 
heads  than  yours  or  mine  to  puzzle  over  them.  For 
a  long  time  it  was  supposed  that  they  were  made  by 
a  race  of  people  which  lived  in  America  even  before 
the  red  man  came — a  people  that  had  a  higher 
civilization  and  that  knew  more  about  metal-work- 


16  ILLINOIS 

ing  than  the  Indians.  Some  thought  that  they  were 
a  branch  of  the  Aztecs — the  great  race  that  lived  in 
Mexico  and  built  temples,  palaces,  and  other 
wonderful  monuments,  covered  with  picture-writing, 
many  centuries  ago.  It  was  thought  that  some  of 
these  people  had  been  driven  north,  and  built  the 
earth  mounds  which  we  now  find  scattered  through 
many  of  our  Mid-Western  States.  But  later  scholars 
do  not  think  so;  they  say  that  the  mounds  were  built 
by  earlier  Indian  tribes  not  very  different  from  those 
living  in  America  when  the  white  man  came.  In 
fact,  in  a  few  mounds  there  have  been  found  some 
trinkets  of  European  manufacture,  such  as  might 
have  been  brought  across  by  De  Soto,  or  other  early 
explorers. 

"However,  the  mounds  are  most  interesting,  and 
I  want  to  take  you  to  visit  one  of  the  largest  of  them, 
in  Illinois  some  day — the  Cahokia  Mount.  Of  course, 
it  is  much  worn  down  and  grown  over  now;  but 
originally  it  was  a  great  square  heap  of  earth  about 
a  thousand  feet  along  one  side — that  is,  nearly  a  fifth 
of  a  mile — and  it  must  have  been  at  least  a  hundred 
feet  high.  Think  of  the  great  numbers  of  men  re- 
quired to  heap  up  a  mound  like  that!  Sometimes 
the  mounds  are  in  the  shape  of  a  pyramid;  some- 
times like  cones;  and  at  least  one,  in  Ohio,  and  one 
in  Wisconsin,  are  in  the  form  of  a  snake,  or  serpent. 

"Some  of  these  mounds  were  used  for  burying  the 
dead;  but  others  were  not  so  used,  and  it  is  not  quite 
clear  what  purpose  they  served,  unless  used  for  the 


mm 


Marquette  Waved  the  Calumet  or  Peace  Pipe 

tSee  page  39] 


BEFORE  THE  WHITE  MEN  CAME    19 

chief's  house  or  for  worship.  They  contain  many 
relics,  such  as  bits  of  pottery,  tools,  weapons,  and 
pearl  and  shell  ornaments,  telling  us  a  good  deal 
about  how  these  people  lived  and  worked.  That  the 
later  Illinois  tribes  did  not  use  the  mounds  for  burial 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  placed  their  dead, 
carefully  wrapped  in  skins,  on  platforms  eight  or 
ten  feet  off  the  ground.  This  was  to  keep  the  wild 
animals  from  getting  them. 

"The  Indian  trails,  which  once  ran  back  and  forth 
across  the  State,  are  another  most  interesting  feature. 
Some  ran  east  and  west,  while  others  extended 
from  what  is  now  Wisconsin  clear  to  the  Ohio  and 
Wabash  Rivers.  When  we  get  back  home,  I  will 
show  you  an  old  map  I  have,  which  traces  out  those 
ancient  routes  of  travel.  Just  how  old  they  are,  no- 
body knows.  They  were  used  by  the  Indians,  per- 
haps, for  many  centuries.  And,  of  course,  the  rivers 
were  the  great  highways  of  early  times.  The  Indian 
in  his  canoe  could  go  in  almost  any  direction.  Oc- 
casionally he  would  have  to  portage,  or  carry  his 
canoe.  In  this  way  he  could  pass  from  the  head- 
waters of  the  Illinois  over  to  Lake  Michigan.  But 
the  Indian  canoe  was  light,  and  two  husky  warriors 
could  easily  carry  it  The  first  French  explorers, 
Father  Marquette  and  Joliet,  came  by  canoe.  And 
after  them  came  the  great  La  Salle,  who  finally 
reached  the  Gulf  of  Mexico." 

"Oh,  tell  us  about  them!"  exclaimed  the  children, 
their  eyes  shining. 


20  ILLINOIS 

"Too  late  to-night,  my  hearties,"  said  their  Uncle; 
"but  perhaps  there  will  be  another  story  about  them, 
at  to-morrow  night's  campfire." 

"There's  just  one  more  thing  I'd  like  to  ask 
about,"  said  Edna  slowly,  "before  we  get  through 
talking  about  the  Indians.  It  has  always  seemed  a 
shame  to  me,  that  the  Indians  lost  their  country — 
that  the  white  men  came  over  here  and  took  it  away 
from  them." 

"That  is  only  partly  true,"  answered  Uncle  John. 
"We  must  remember  that  there  never  were  any  large 
number  of  Indians.  They  were  scattered,  roving 
tribes  that  never  did  anything  to  build  up  the 
country — just  hunted  over  it,  and  sometimes  raised 
a  little  corn  (the  women  did  that).  As  a  general 
thing,  they  were  treated  kindly  by  the  white  men, 
both  the  French  and  the  English.  The  early  settle- 
ment of  Illinois  was  begun  through  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sions— as  I  shall  tell  you  about,  later.  The  Indians 
were  given  certain  strips  of  land,  and  were  en- 
couraged to  trade  with  the  white  men.  But  un- 
fortunately the  Indians  soon  became  dependent 
upon  the  stronger  race  for  food  and  clothes.  Some 
trappers  and  traders  of  the  worse  type  taught  them 
to  drink  whiskey,  or  'fire-water,'  and  they  lost  their 
strong  self-reliance  of  the  primitive  days.  State 
and  national  reservations  are  still  held  for  the 
Indians,  but  their  numbers  have  grown  small.  To- 
day, there  are  but  a  handful  of  the  Illinois.  It  is 
said  that  there  were  not  more  than  8,000  natives  all 


BEFORE  THE  WHITE  MEN  CAME    21 

told,  when  Marquette  visited  them — so  it  seems  no 
more  than  right  that  this  great  land  should  have  been 
taken  over  by  a  greater  people,  who  could  make  of  it 
the  wonderful  nation  we  have  to-day." 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE 

FOR  a  proper  start  to  my  story  to-night,"  said 
Uncle  John,  on  the  next  evening,  "I  must  go 
back  just  three  hundred  years.  You  remember, 
of  course,  that  the  English  made  a  settlement  at 
Jamestown,  Virginia,  in  1607,  and  another  at 
Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  in  1620.  But  our  Mid- 
Western  land  owes  its  first  settlement,  not  to  the 
English,  but  to  the  French. 

"One  of  the  first  of  these  great  French  explorers 
was  Samuel  Champlain,  for  whom  the  long,  narrow 
lake  between  New  York  and  Vermont  is  named. 
Champlain,  like  others,  was  keenly  desirous  of  find- 
ing a  northwest  passage,  or  waterway,  which  would 
lead  across  to  the  Pacific,  and  thence  to  India. 
When — like  Cartier  before  him — he  sailed  his  ships 
up  the  mighty  St.  Lawrence,  he  thought  that  he  had 
found  this  passage — just  as  Henry  Hudson  thought, 
when  he  sailed  up  the  Hudson  River.  Later,  when 
the  French  crossed  the  Great  Lakes,  and  first  heard 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  they  again  thought  that 
here  was  the  way  across  the  new  continent  to  the 
Western  ocean. 

22 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  23 

"Champlain  founded  the  city  of  Quebec  in  1608, 
and  this  was  the  starting  point  of  later  explorations. 
Because  of  his  discoveries,  he  was  given  a  royal 
grant,  in  1627,  by  King  Louis  XIII  of  France,  to 
the  whole  Eastern  country,  as  far  south  as  Florida, 
under  the  name  of  New  France.  Kings  in  those 
days,  with  a  royal  flourish  of  the  pen,  were  ready 
to  sign  away  a  dominion  of  thousands  of  miles — 
provided  the  man  to  whom  it  was  given  could  hold 
it!  The  English  and  the  Spanish  monarchs  were 
just  as  generous  as  Louis — and  over  the  same  parcels 
of  land.    It  was  a  case  of  first  come,  first  served. 

"De  Soto  and  other  Spaniards  had  already  ex- 
plored the  South  as  far  as  the  Mississippi  River, 
which  De  Soto  is  given  the  credit  of  discovering. 
But  no  white  man  knew,  then,  where  this  mighty 
stream  started,  or  anything  about  the  lands  which 
bordered  it.  Now  that  Champlain  had  received  his 
royal  charter,  the  French  were  eager  to  explore  this 
country  and  to  raise  above  it  the  banner  of  the  lilies 
of  France. 

"In  this  they  were  aided  by  a  very  powerful 
society,  which  I  must  stop  to  tell  you  about — the 
Jesuits,  or  members  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  This 
was  a  strong  order  of  monks  which  for  many  years 
had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  political  life,  as  well 
as  the  religious  life,  of  Europe.  The  stories  of  some 
of  the  Jesuit  missionaries  who  came  to  America  are 
among  the  finest  in  pioneer  history.  They  cheer- 
fully went   with    the    first    French    explorers    and 


24  ILLINOIS 

traders,  as  they  pushed  across  the  West.  They 
endured  hunger  and  cold  and  weariness;  their  lives 
were  constantly  in  danger,  and  sometimes  lost.  Yet 
they  counted  it  as  naught  if  they  could  set  up  a  rude 
cross  made  of  cedar  poles  lashed  the  one  across  the 
other;  or  carve  the  name  of  Jesus  in  the  bark  of  a 
birch  tree;  or  set  up  an  altar  of  stone,  around  which 
the  savages  gathered,  while  the  fearless  missionary 
preached  to  them. 

"Such  a  man  was  Father  Claude  Allouez,  who, 
in  1665,  founded  the  first  permanent  white  settle- 
ment on  Lake  Superior.  It  is  said  that  he  preached 
to  twenty  tribes,  among  them  some  members  of  the 
Illinois,  who  first  brought  him  word  of  the  'Great 
Water'  to  the  west.  The  French  were  much  excited 
at  this  news,  as  they  thought  that  here,  at  last,  was 
the  long-sought  passage  to  the  ocean.  But  they 
found  later  that  this  was  the  name  given  by  the 
Indians  to  the  Mississippi  River. 

"  l  The  Great  Water  borders  on  the  level  land  to 
the  south/  said  the  red  men,  pointing.  'There  you 
will  find  vast  prairies  where  herds  of  deer  and 
buffalo  graze,  for  there  is  much  grass.' 

"  Father  Allouez  was  filled  with  a  great  desire  to 
visit  this  country,  and  talked  much  about  it  to  the 
Indians.  Some  said  it  was  a  friendly  land,  where 
strangers  were  welcomed  with  the  peace  pipe;  but 
others,  who  were  jealous  of  the  white  men,  tried  to 
frighten  them. 

"  '  The  Great  Water  is  filled  with  monsters,'  they 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE    25 


Occasionally  He  Would  Have  to  Carry  His  Canoe 

said,  'that  can  eat  a  canoe  at  one  mouthful.  And  the 
nations  that  live  along  its  shores  are  very  warlike, 
and  spare  none.7 

"Thus  they  talked  to  another  priest  who  had  come 
into  the  lake  country — Father  Jacques  Marquette 
who,  three  years  after  Allouez  had  founded  his 
mission,  also  set  up  one  at  St.  Mary's  Falls.  But 
Marquette  refused  to  be  frightened. 

"  'I  would  go  if  the  waters  were  full  of  monsters, 
if  I  could  but  save  souls/  he  answered. 


26  ILLINOIS 

"And  soon  the  way  was  to  be  opened  for  him. 
The  other  Jesuits  and  traders,  on  their  part,  had  not 
been  idle.  Father  Dablon  founded  Sault  St.  Marie; 
and  he  and  Allouez  made  a  journey  from  Green  Bay, 
on  Lake  Michigan  (which,  by  the  way,  on  some 
early  maps  is  called  Lake  Illinois),  up  Fox  River 
to  Winnebago  Lake.  This  they  crossed,  aided  by 
friendly  Indian  guides,  and  followed  the  upper 
stream  almost  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Wisconsin, 
which,  they  were  told,  led  on  down  to  the  'Father 
of  Waters.' 

"They  could  not  go  any  further  at  this  time,  but 
they  made  maps.  Then  in  the  Spring  of  1671,  a 
grand  council  of  the  Indian  nations  was  held  at  St. 
Mary's  Falls.  Here  all  the  tribes  of  the  northwest 
territory  were  formally  placed  under  the  protection 
of  the  French  king.  A  huge  cross  was  set  up,  and, 
by  its  side,  a  pole  was  erected  bearing  the  royal  arms 
of  France.  A  volley  of  musketry  was  fired,  making 
so  much  noise  that  some  of  the  red  men  fell  over. 
And  thus  the  whole  country  was  claimed  in  the  name 
of  France.  It  was  an  imposing  ceremony  followed 
by  much  feasting;  and,  indeed,  it  had  an  important 
bearing  on  the  whole  history  of  this  country." 

"But  where  were  the  English  all  this  time?"  asked 
Howard.  It  was  the  first  time  that  evening, 
that  either  of  the  children  had  interrupted  the 
story. 

Uncle  John  smiled. 

"The  English  were  missing  a  big  chance,  as  you 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  27 

would  say,  had  they  but  known  it.  Up  to  this  time, 
they  had  colonized  only  a  thin  strip  of  land  lying 
along  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  English  liked  to  build 
towns  and  live  in  them  with  some  of  the  comforts 
of  their  old  homes  across  the  sea.  But  the  French 
were  born  traders  and  explorers.  They  actually 
seemed  to  like  to  live  in  the  wilds.  And  they  earned 
the  respect  of  the  natives  by  learning  to  live  as 
Indians,  following  their  customs  in  many  things, 
and  even  intermarrying  with  them.  So  it  came 
about  that  they  understood  the  red  man  and  made 
him  so  firmly  their  ally  that  French  was  the  only 
European  language  known  or  used  west  of  the 
Alleghenies.  With  the  start  they  had,  it  is  strange 
that  the  whole  Mississippi  Valley,  as  well  as 
Canada,  did  not  remain  a  province  of  France.  But 
that  is  another  story." 

"But  weren't  you  going  to  tell  us  about  Father 
Marquette's  journey  down  here?"  said  Edna,  as 
again  the  campfire  was  given  more  fuel,  making  the 
ruddy  shadows  dance  among  the  trees. 

"That  is  what  I  am  coming  to,  right  now," 
laughed  her  Uncle;  "only  you  can  understand  it 
better  if  you  know  the  things  that  led  up  to  it.  Here 
was  this  big,  undiscovered  country  lying  just  to  the 
south  of  them;  and  here  were  the  Indians,  some 
friendly,  some — well,  not  quite  so  friendly — with 
their  stories  of  the  Great  Water  which  led,  no  one 
knew  where.  Can  you  blame  them  for  being  eager 
to  go?" 


28  ILLINOIS 

"Jiminy!"  said  Howard,  his  eyes  shining.  "I  just 
wish  Fd  been  there!" 

"Well,  it  wasn't  a  picnic,  by  any  means;  but  parts 
of  the  journey  were  pleasant  enough. — Are  you 
ready  to  start?    All  right,  let's  go. 

"After  that  big  council  of  the  Indians  and 
French,  in  1671,  Marquette  grew  more  and  more 
impatient  to  get  started.  He  laid  in  supplies,  got 
some  good  canoes,  and  asked  questions  of  every 
Illinois  Indian  he  chanced  to  meet.  He  also  prayed, 
in  his  rude  little  chapel,  that  he  might  be  permitted 
to  make  this  journey.  And  as  if  in  answer  to  his 
prayers,  another  man  came  to  him  from  Quebec, 
who  was  just  as  eager  to  go  as  he,  and  who  was  just 
the  man  for  the  task.  This  was  Louis  Joliet — or 
Jolliet,  as  his  name  appears  in  the  early  records. 
One  of  our  busy  cities  was  later  named  for  him. 
Joliet  was  a  sturdy,  keen-eyed  voyageur,  as  such 
hardy  men  were  called,  who  probably  knew  more 
about  the  wilds  than  anybody  else.  He  had  traded 
in  furs  all  around  the  Great  Lakes,  and  he  had  been 
sent  by  Talon,  the  captain,  in  Quebec,  to  hunt  for 
copper  mines  on  Lake  Superior.  Talon  had  heard 
of  Marquette's  desire  to  found  missions  among  the 
Illinois,  and  so  he  sent  Joliet  out  to  join  him,  and 
establish  trading-posts  at  the  same  time. 

"The  two  men  were  unlike  in  appearance,  as  well 
as  in  disposition,  but  from  all  accounts  made  a  fine 
'team'  for  this  work.  Joliet  was  stocky,  with  black 
eyes  and  a  black  beard — a  man  born  to  lead  men; 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  29 

while  Marquette,  who  at  this  time  was  only  thirty- 
six,  looked  fifty,  so  spare  was  he,  with  stooped 
shoulders  and  thin,  smooth-shaven  face.  He  wore 
at  all  times  a  rusty  black  robe,  while  Joliet  was  clad 
in  the  rough  garb  of  a  trader. 

"It  was  not  until  the  Spring  of  1673 — two  years 
after  the  Council — that  their  little  party  at  last  set 
out.  There  were  seven  Frenchmen  in  all,  in  two 
good-sized  bark  canoes,  and  in  each  canoe  there  was 
also  an  Indian  guide.  They  followed  the  same  route 
blazed  by  Dablon  and  Allouez,  going  by  way  of 
Green  Bay  and  the  Fox  River  through  Winnebago 
Lake.  Here  they  came  to  the  Indian  village  of 
Mascoutin,  where,  to  their  great  joy,  they  saw  a  cross 
standing.  It  showed  them  that  they  were  on  the 
right  trail,  and  it  also  marked  the  limit  of  explora- 
tion. From  here  on,  they  were  going  into  the  un- 
known. 

"With  their  two  guides,  they  forced  their  canoes 
up  through  the  shallow  waters  of  the  river — finding 
it  in  places  so  choked  with  wild  rice,  which  grew 
up  taller  than  their  heads,  that  they  had  difficulty  in 
getting  through,  or  seeing  where  they  were  going. 
But  their  guides  only  grunted  and  pushed  on.  As 
they  went,  thousands  of  wild  fowl  rose  with  hoarse 
or  shrill  cries.  A  few  were  surprised  and  knocked 
over  with  sticks.  So  their  larder  was  well  supplied 
with  choice  game,  without  firing  a  shot." 

"Um-m-m!"  (This  from  Howard.) 

"At  last  they  found  that  they  could  not  go  further 


30  ILLINOIS 

on  this  stream,  so,  carrying  their  two  bark  canoes 
across  the  level  portage,  they  placed  them  upon  the 
head  waters  of  the  Wisconsin.  For  seven  days  they 
glided  down  this  tranquil  river,  meeting  nothing  to 
disturb  them.  It  was  a  land  of  mystery  and  solitude. 
Here  they  would  pass  by  islands  overgrown  with 
trees;  there  look  into  dense  jungles  of  undergrowth. 
Again  they  would  come  upon  sand  bars,  where  the 
river  gleamed  invitingly  in  the  sun.  Then  the 
stream  would  widen,  flowing  out  lazily  between  low 
banks,  with  broad  prairies  stretching  out  on  each 
side,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  see.  And  again  they 
would  pass  under  the  shadows  of  some  great  wooded 
bluff,  with  a  mysterious  forest  lurking  in  the  back- 
ground. 

"They  must  have  been  thrilled  with  the  joy  of 
discovery,  as  they  went  along.  They  must  have  said 
to  themselves:  We  are  seeing  what  no  white  man 
ever  saw  before.  What  treasures  may  not  lie 
here  in  this  great  land,  only  awaiting  us  to  find 
them  I1 

"At  nights  they  would  pitch  their  camp  under  the 
shelter  of  some  bluff,  posting  one  of  their  men  to 
avoid  surprise,  and  then  feasting  royally  on  duck,  or 
wild  turkey,  or  prairie  hen,  or  goose — perhaps  a  bit 
of  venison " 

"Oh,  say,  Uncle  John,  I  wish  you'd  let  up!"  said 
Howard,  stirring  uneasily. 

"Father  Marquette  says  that  they  had  all  the  fish 
they  could  eat,  too,"  continued  his  Uncle,  wickedly. 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  31 


Thousands  of  Wild  Fowl  Rose  With  Hoarse  Cries 

"All  they  had  to  do  was  to  dip  down  their  nets,  and 
help  themselves." 

"Aw!"  groaned  Howard. 

"Don't  mind  him,  Uncle  John — go  on!"  (This 
from  Edna.) 

"By  this  time  it  was  the  middle  of  June — the  17th, 
to  be  exact — when  they  came  to  the  first  great  thrill 
of  their  journey.  Here  their  peacefully  winding 
stream  suddenly  widened  out  and  became  merged 
with  the  waters  of  another  mighty  river,  so  wide, 
as  one  of  them  said,  that  if  a  man  were  on  the  further 
shore,  it  could  not  be  discerned  whether  he  was  a 


32  ILLINOIS 

man  or  not.  This  great  current  swept  from  the  north 
to  the  south.  And  they  knew,  without  being  told, 
that  here  at  last  was  the  great  'Father  of  Waters,' 
they  had  heard  so  much  about.  At  the  point  where 
they  entered  the  Mississippi  some  later  French 
traders  established  a  post,  which  they  called  Prairie 
du  Chien — as  the  town  there  is  still  called.  Do  you 
know  what  that  means  in  English,  Howard  ?" 

"Yep,"  said  Howard,  slangily.  "Prairie  dog." 
"No,  prairie  where  dogs  are  found,"  suggested 
his  Uncle.  "And  there  must  have  been  a  lot  of  them 
there,  in  those  days.  We  can  picture  the  plains  as 
being  fairly  honeycombed  with  their  burrows.  Still 
there  were  no  signs  of  life,  as  they  paddled  out  into 
this  broader  stream,  other  than  the  birds  and  beasts. 
At  times  they  would  sight  a  herd  of  buffalo  in  the 
distance,  and  these  shaggy  beasts  would  lift  their 
heads  and  snort  in  surprise  at  sight  of  them.  But  the 
Indians,  if  there  were  any  lurking  along  the  shore, 
never  showed  themselves;  and  this  very  silence  made 
the  explorers  the  more  cautious.  It  must  have 
seemed  strange,  going  for  days  and  days,  as  they  did, 
without  seeing  another  human  being. 

"So  to  be  on  the  safe  side,  they  did  not  camp  along 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  at  night.  They  would 
pull  up  upon  some  sand  bar,  or  small  island  to  eat 
their  midday  meal;  but  at  night  they  slept  in  the 
canoes.  Thus  they  floated  and  paddled  downstream 
for  many  leagues,  with  the  bluffs  of  what  is  now 
Iowa  on  their  right,  and  the  rolling  prairies  of  II- 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  33 

linois  on  their  left.  At  times,  another  river  would 
join  this  great  central  stream — one  of  these,  the  Des 
Moines,  as  it  was  later  called,  marking  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  present  State  of  Missouri. 

"Still  they  pressed  on,  keeping  a  close  watch  for 
signs  of  natives,  and  one  day  were  rewarded  by  find- 
ing a  trail  which  came  down  to  the  water's  edge. 
There  must  be  a  village  up  that  trail,  they  reasoned ; 
but  were  they  friends  or  enemies?  Leaving  their 
five  men  in  charge  of  the  canoes,  Marquette  and 
Joliet  bravely  started  alone  up  the  trail.  After  fol- 
lowing it  for  about  six  miles,  they  came  to  a  cluster 
of  wigwams  and  cabins,  and  paused  to  give  a  loud 
halloo.  As  soon  as  the  natives  sighted  them,  all  was 
hubbub  and  confusion.  You  can  imagine  how 
amazed  these  Indians  were  at  their  first  sight  of  a 
white  man. 

"I  have  found  an  old  book  in  which  the  priest 
himself  tells  us  his  adventures,"  continued  Uncle 
John,  fishing  a  small  volume  out  of  his  pocket  and 
turning  its  pages. 

"  'The  Indians  rushed  out  of  their  cabins,'  says 
Father  Marquette,  'and  having  probably  recognized 
us  as  French,  especially  seeing  a  "Black  Gown,"  or 
at  least  having  no  reason  to  distrust  us,  seeing  we 
were  but  two,  and  had  made  known  our  coming, 
they  deputed  four  old  men  to  come  and  speak  with 
us.  Two  carried  tobacco  pipes  well  adorned,  and 
trimmed  with  many  kinds  of  feathers.  They 
marched  slowly,  lifting  their  pipes  toward  the  sun,  as 


34  ILLINOIS 

if  offering  them  to  us  to  smoke;  but  yet  without 
uttering  a  single  word.  They  were  a  long  time  com- 
ing the  little  way  from  the  village  to  us.  Having 
reached  us  at  last,  they  stopped  to  consider  us  at- 
tentively. I  now  took  courage,  seeing  these  cere- 
monies which  are  used  by  them  only  with  friends, 
and  I  therefore  spoke  to  them  first  and  asked  them 
who  they  were. 

"'"We  are  Illinois,"  said  they;  and  in  token  of 
peace  they  presented  us  their  pipes  to  smoke.  They 
then  invited  us  to  their  village,  where  all  the  tribe 
awaited  us  with  impatience.  Their  pipes  are  called 
in  the  country  "calumets."  ' 

"As  soon  as  the  visitors  had  been  escorted  into  the 
village,  they  were  given  seats  of  honor  in  the  central 
space  where  smoked  the  council  fire.  And  the  chief 
began  to  address  them  in  the  usual  flowery  language 
that  Indians  like. 

"  'How  beautiful  is  the  sun,  O  Black  Gown,  and 
thou,  too,  great  warrior,  when  thou  comest  to  visit 
us!  Our  whole  village  awaits  thee;  thou  shalt  enter 
in  peace  into  our  dwellings.  Speak  to  us  thy  mes- 
sage, out  of  the  fullness  of  thy  heart.' 

"And  so,  the  next  day,  a  grand  council  of  the 
whole  tribe  was  called,  and  Father  Marquette,  look- 
ing quite  imposing  in  his  long  priestly  robe,  stood 
up  and  addressed  them.  He  told  them  about  the  God 
of  the  white  men,  who  was  also  the  Great  Father  of 
the  red  men  and  of  every  tribe  under  the  sun.  He 
was  the  same  Great  Spirit  that  they  worshiped,  and 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  3S 

He  wanted  them  all  to  be  brothers.  The  priest  told 
them,  too,  about  Jesus  the  Christ,  whose  emblem  was 
the  Cross.  And  the  Indians  bowed  and  said:  'Good 
medicine  V 

"Then  Joliet  stood  up  and  talked  to  them  in  his 
blunt  way,  and  told  them  of  the  mighty  French  King, 
who  lived  across  many  waters,  and  who  would  fight 
their  battles  and  protect  them;  and  of  the  profitable 
trade  in  furs  and  other  things  that  he  sought  to 
establish  with  them.  'I  come  to  you  as  to  my 
brothers,'  he  said,  stretching  out  his  hands.  And 
again  the  red  men  grunted  and  bowed,  and  said: 
'Good  medicine!' 

"After  which  they  had  a  great  feast,  and  as  a  mark 
of  special  favor  the  Frenchmen  were  served  with 
roasted  dog — although  it  may  have  been  prairie  dog. 
Then  the  sachem,  or  head  chief,  of  the  Illinois  stood 
up  and  made  another  flowery  speech. 

"  'I  thank  thee,  Black  Gown,  and  thee,  French- 
man, for  taking  so  much  pains  to  come  to  visit  us. 
Never  has  the  earth  been  so  beautiful,  nor  the  sun 
so  bright  as  to-day.  Never  has  our  river  been  so 
calm,  nor  so  free  from  rocks,  which  your  canoes 
have  removed  as  they  passed.  Never  has  our 
tobacco  had  so  fine  a  flavor,  nor  our  corn  appeared 
so  beautiful,  as  we  behold  it  to-day.  Here  is  my  son, 
I  give  thee,  that  thou  mayest  know  my  heart.  I  pray 
thee  to  take  pity  on  me  and  all  my  nation.  Thou 
knowest  the  Great  Spirit  who  has  made  us  all;  thou 
speakest  to  him  and  hearest  his  word.    Ask  him  to 


36  ILLINOIS 

give  us  life  and  health,  and  come  and  dwell  with  us, 
that  we  may  know  him.' 

"How  filled  with  joy  must  have  been  the  heroic 
priest's  heart,  on  hearing  these  words.  As  the 
sachem  ended,  he  took  his  little  son  by  the  hand  and 
led  him  to  Marquette.  He  then  gave  the  Father 
another  calumet,  telling  him  it  was  a  powerful 
peace  pipe  and  to  keep  it.  Marquette  afterwards 
found  this  to  be  good  advice,  as  you  shall  see.  But 
when  the  Jesuit  spoke  of  going  on,  the  chieftain 
urged  him  not  to  do  so,  telling  him  that  there  were 
many  and  great  dangers  in  the  mighty  river  to  the 
south.  The  more  he  talked  about  these  perils,  how- 
ever, the  keener  was  the  priest  to  brave  them. 

"Father  Marquette  himself  has  left  us  a  vivid 
account  of  his  visit  to  these  friendly  Indians,  and  of 
their  way  of  living.  You  remember  I  told  you  a 
little  about  them,  last  night;  but  I  know  you  will 
be  glad  to  hear  the  story  from  the  chief  actor,  and 
to  get  his  picture  of  life  in  the  long  ago.  Let  me 
read  you  some  bits  from  his  journal. 

"  'To  say  "Illinois"  is,  in  their  language,  to  say 
"the  men,"  as  if  other  Indians  compared  to  them 
were  beasts.  They  are  divided  into  several  vil- 
lages, some  of  which  are  quite  distant  from  each 
other,  and  which  produce  a  diversity  in  their 
language,  which  in  general  is  like  the  Algonquin. 
They  are  mild  and  tractable  in  disposition  .  .  . 
well  formed,  nimble,  and  very  adroit  in  using  the 
bow  and  arrow.     They  use  guns,  also,  which  they 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  37 

bought  of  our  Indian  allies,  who  trade  with  the 
French;  they  use  them  especially  to  terrify  the 
nations  against  whom  they  go  to  war.  They  do  not 
know  the  use  of  either  iron  or  copper,  and  have 
nothing  but  stone  knives. 

"  'The  chiefs  are  marked  by  a  scarf  ingeniously 
made  of  the  hair  of  bears  or  buffalo.  Their  faces 
are  painted  with  red  lead,  or  ochre,  which  is  found 
in  great  quantities,  a  few  day's  journey  from  the  vil- 
lage. They  live  by  game,  which  is  abundant  in  this 
country,  and  on  Indian  corn.  They  also  sow  beans 
and  melons.  They  dry  pumpkins  in  the  sun,  to  eat 
in  the  Winter  and  Spring.  Their  cabins  are  very 
large,  and  lined  and  floored  with  rush  mats.  They 
make  all  their  dishes  of  wood,  and  their  spoons  of 
the  bones  of  the  buffalo.  Their  only  clothes  are 
skins.' 

"Father  Marquette  speaks  in  high  terms  of  the 
hospitality  of  these  simple  people.  As  the  French- 
men walked  through  their  village,  they  were 
showered  with  gifts.  We  slept  in  the  sachem's  cabin 
that  night,'  he  says,  'and  the  next  day  took  leave  of 
him,  promising  to  come  again  in  four  moons.  He 
escorted  us  to  our  canoes  with  nearly  six  hundred 
persons,  who  saw  us  embark,  showing  us  in  every 
possible  way  the  pleasure  our  visit  had  given  them.' 

"Soon  after  leaving  these  Indian  friends,"  con- 
tinued Uncle  John,  "they  came  to  the  mouth  of  the 
river  which  bears  their  name — our  own  friendly 
Illinois.    But  they  saw  something  a  few  miles  below 


38  ILLINOIS 

its  mouth,  which  I  am  sure  you  would  like  to  see 
now — only  it  is  no  longer  there.  They  saw  on  the 
side  of  a  cliff  high  above  the  water  some  hideous 
pictures,  painted  by  a  savage  hand.  The  priest  de- 
scribes them  as  'monsters  as  large  as  a  calf,  with 
horns  like  a  deer,  red  eyes,  a  beard  like  a  tiger,  and 
a  frightful  appearance.  The  face  is  something  like 
that  of  a  man,  the  body  covered  with  scales,  with  a 
long  tail  ending  like  that  of  a  fish.'  No  one  knew 
who  had  painted  these  forbidding  pictures,  which 
looked  like  a  sort  of  devil  worship;  and  the  Indians 
themselves  were  afraid  of  them,  and  wanted  to  pass 
by  as  quickly  as  possible. 

"They  had  hardly  gotten  over  their  amazement 
here,  when  they  were  given  another  thrill.  Suddenly 
their  canoes  were  seized  and  almost  engulfed  by  a 
torrent  of  yellowish  mud  and  driftwood;  even  up- 
rooted trees  were  borne  along  by  this  new  current, 
which  swept  in  upon  them  from  the  west.  'I  never 
saw  anything  more  terrifying,'  says  Marquette.  It 
was  the  Missouri  River  (as  we  now  call  it),  the 
greatest  of  the  streams  running  into  the  Mississippi. 
It  made  the  whole  current  murky.  Still  further 
down  they  met  another  stream,  this  time  from  the 
east,  and  as  clear  as  the  other  had  been  muddy. 
This  was  the  Ohio,  or  Beautiful  River. 

"Below  the  site  of  the  later  trading  post  and  city 
of  St.  Louis,  the  river  broadened  into  an  inland  sea, 
its  low,  marshy  shores  overgrown  with  cane.  Here 
they  suffered   from  swarms  of  mosquitoes,  which 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  39 


Joliet  and  Father  Marquette 

made  sleeping  at  night  a  hard  problem.  In  the  day- 
time the  sun  was  blazing  hot,  as  it  was  now  Midsum- 
mer and  they  were  approaching  the  Southland.  So 
they  did  not  paddle  steadily,  but  let  their  boats  go 
with  the  current,  meanwhile  keeping  a  sharp  look- 
out for  the  hostile  savages  and  other  perils,  against 
which  they  had  been  warned. 

"On  they  went,  in  this  fashion,  quietly  and  safely, 
until  they  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas ;  when 
suddenly  a  small  fleet  of  canoes  put  off  from  the 
shore,  filled  with  young  braves.  They  made  direct 
for  the  two  canoes  of  the  strangers,  uttering  wild 
whoops,  and  bending  their  bows  in  readiness  to 
shoot.  Joliet  stood  up  in  the  bow,  holding  out  his 
arms,  with  palms  flat,  meaning  'friends' ;  while  Mar- 
quette waved  the  calumet  or  peace  pipe  which  had 


40  ILLINOIS 

been  given  him  by  the  Illinois.  Still  the  young 
men  came  on,  and  in  another  moment  would  doubt- 
less have  riddled  them  with  arrows,  had  not  some 
older  braves  just  then  appeared  on  the  scene.  These 
caught  sight  of  the  calumet,  and  bade  the  others  put 
up  their  arms.    But  it  was  a  close  call. 

"The  older  warriors  now  paddled  up  and  held 
a  parley,  or  peace  talk,  with  the  strangers,  and  satis- 
fied that  they  were  friends,  took  them  to  their 
village  and  showed  them  as  great  hospitality  as  they 
had  found  with  the  Illinois.  They  feasted  them, 
and  there  was  much  powwow,  or  council.  They, 
of  course,  wanted  to  know  all  about  their  visitors, 
who  they  were,  and  what  they  sought  in  this  country. 
Marquette  told  them  quite  frankly  that  he  wanted 
to  go  on  to  the  great  sea  to  the  south.  This,  the  head 
men  told  him,  was  not  possible.  The  Indians  down 
there  were  much  more  warlike,  and  would  never 
let  them  pass. 

"This  time  they  heeded  the  warnings.  They  did 
indeed  go  to  another  Indian  village,  of  larger  size, 
about  two  days'  journey  downstream.  Here  Mar- 
quette and  Joliet  held  a  council  with  the  Indians, 
and  wisely  decided  to  turn  back.  The  Father  says  : 
We  considered  that  we  risked  losing  the  fruit  of 
our  voyage,  if  we  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Span- 
iards, who  would  undoubtedly  make  us  prisoners; 
and  that  we  were  not  in  condition  to  resist  the 
Indians  who  infested  the  lower  parts  of  the  river. 
All  these  considerations  induced  us  to  return.    This 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  41 

we  announced  to  the  Indians,  and  after  a  day's  rest 
prepared  for  it.' 

"The  place  where  they  turned  back  was — 
curiously  enough — about  the  spot  where  the  Span- 
iard, De  Soto,  had  first  sighted  the  Great  River 
nearly  a  century  and  a  half  before  (1535). 

"They  found  the  return  journey  upstream  any- 
thing but  easy.  If  you  have  ever  tried  paddling 
against  the  current  for  any  length  of  time,  you  will 
understand  their  difficulties.  Day  after  day  they 
struggled  along,  doubtless  getting  weary  of  the  sight 
of  the  never-ending  banks.  Marquette  fell  sick  and 
lay  for  days  at  a  time  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe. 
At  last  they  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois  River, 
and  taking  their  guides'  advice,  they  shortened  their 
journey  back  to  the  Great  Lake,  by  going  up  it. 
The  country  through  which  this  river  flows  is  fertile 
and  beautiful,  as  you  know,  and  in  those  days  must 
have  been  very  lovely  to  the  travel-worn  voyagers. 
We  have  seen  nothing  more  beautiful,'  says  the 
good  priest." 

"Yes,"  said  Edna,  "we  have  been  up  it  and  down 
it,  for  several  miles;  and  I  am  thrilled  to  think  that 
here  on  this  same  river  the  noble  Marquette  and  the 
brave  Joliet  came  in  their  canoes.  It  sort  of  makes 
them  seem  like — well — neighbors — if  you  know 
what  I  mean." 

Howard  grinned  at  this,  but  his  Uncle  said  quite 
seriously:  "Yes,  it  does  make  them  seem  more  real 
to  us,  instead  of  just  names  in  a  history  book." 


42  ILLINOIS 

"Did  Father  Marquette  ever  keep  his  promise, 
and  get  back  to  see  his  Illinois  friends?"  asked  Edna. 

"Yes,  but  not  until  some  months  after,  and,  I  am 
sorry  to  say,  it  may  have  cost  the  faithful  priest  his 
life.  On  the  way  up  this  river,  they  stopped  at  the 
Indian  village  of  Kaskaskia,  and  there  got  other 
guides,  who  took  them  by  way  of  the  Des  Plaines 
River  over  a  portage  to  the  Chicago  River,  and  so 
on  into  Lake  Michigan.  Thus  they  passed  the  site 
of  the  future  city  of  Chicago.  By  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember they  were  safely  back  at  Green  Bay.  They 
had  been  gone  four  months  and  had  covered  a 
distance  of  twenty-five  hundred  miles — an  amazing 
feat,  even  for  these  days.  Think  what  it  must  have 
meant  then!" 

"Phew!"  Howard  whistled,  his  eyes  shining. 

"Joliet  pushed  on  to  Quebec,  to  make  a  report  of 
their  great  discoveries,  while  Marquette  spent  the 
Winter  trying  to  recover  his  health,  which  had  been 
shattered  by  the  long  journey.  Meanwhile,  he 
preached  to  the  northern  tribes.  But  he  had  not 
forgotten  his  promise  to  his  southern  friends.  It 
was  not  until  a  year  later,  however,  that  he  at- 
tempted to  return  to  them,  and,  strange  to  say,  he 
set  out  just  as  Winter  was  coming  on.  With  only  one 
boat  manned  by  two  French  guides  they  braved  the 
stormy  waters  of  Lake  Michigan.  They  got  only  as 
far  as  the  Chicago,  when  again  the  Father  fell  sick, 
and  they  had  to  give  up  their  trip  for  the  Winter. 
They  built  for  him  a  rude  hut,  and  the  party  sub- 


COMING  OF  FATHER  MARQUETTE  43 

sisted  until  Spring  by  the  wild  animals  the  two  men 
secured,  and  a  little  food  brought  in  by  some 
Indians. 

"When  the  Spring  freshets  flooded  the  streams, 
they  started  once  more  and  came  down  the  Illinois 
until  they  at  last  reached  their  Indian  friends,  who 
greeted  the  priest  with  shouts  of  joy.  'Black  Gown 
has  come  again!'  they  cried;  'and  all  will  be  well.' 
'They  received  me  like  an  angel  from  Heaven,'  says 
Marquette.  But  his  illness  had  seized  him  again, 
and  he  knew  his  days  were  numbered. 

"  'Call  your  tribes  together  in  council,'  he  told 
them,  'for  I  cannot  tarry  long.' 

"So  they  summoned  all  the  Indians  for  many 
miles,  sending  swift  runners  to  them,  with  the  mes- 
sage: 'Black  Gown  has  come,  and  would  speak 
with  us.'  Within  a  few  days  a  great  number  had 
assembled — some  say  two  thousand,  not  counting  the 
women  and  children — and  a  grand  council  was  held 
near  what  is  now  Utica.  Here  Father  Marquette 
set  up  one  of  the  first  missions  in  the  Illinois  country. 

"It  must  have  been  an  impressive  sight  to  see  the 
braves  seated  in  great  circles  around  the  little  mound 
on  which  the  slender,  black-robed  figure  stood.  He 
was  a  man  sick  unto  death,  but  he  fought  off  his 
weakness  until  he  could  tell  them  what  was  in  his 
heart.  And  thus  he  preached  to  them  again,  until 
his  voice  broke.  'I  must  leave  you,  my  children,'  he 
ended,  'but  I  leave  you  in  the  care  of  the  Great 
Spirit  who  will  watch  over  us  all.'    And  lifting  up 


44  ILLINOIS 

his  thin,  white  hands  he  blessed  them,  then  went 
sadly  back  to  his  canoe.  Again  the  shores  were  lined 
as  he  departed,  but  this  time  they  wept;  for  they 
knew  that  they  would  never  see  him  more. 

"It  was  true.  Back  he  went  wearily  to  the  Great 
Lake,  and  started  up  its  shores.  But  he  failed  so 
fast  that  his  men  knew  he  could  not  reach  his 
journey's  end.  They  carried  him  ashore  to  a  grassy 
knoll  by  the  mouth  of  a  little  stream,  made  him  as 
comfortable  as  they  could  under  a  shelter  of  boughs, 
and  knelt  sorrowfully  by  his  side.  And  there,  with 
a  crucifix  in  his  hands  and  a  smile  on  his  lips,  he 
breathed  his  last." 


CHAPTER  III 

LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER 

THE  next  evening  was  rainy,  at  the  Ferguson 
camp,  but  in  their  tight  little  cabin,  with  its 
small  but  cheerful  fireplace,  they  felt  all  the 
more  cozy  and  comfortable.  And  besides,  Mr. 
Ferguson,  who  could  get  out  to  camp  only  once  in 
a  while,  was  with  them  to-night,  as  well  as  Uncle 
John,  so  it  was  a  merry  party  indeed  that  sat  around 
the  fire  and  listened  to  the  rain  beating  against  the 
windows. 

"What  happened  next,  Uncle  John?"  begged 
Howard,  hardly  giving  his  Uncle  time  to  light  his 
pipe. 

"Yes,"  added  Edna,  "please  go  right  on  from  the 
time  of  poor  Father  Marquette's  death.  I  have  been 
thinking  a  lot  about  him  to-day,  and  I  think  it  is 
fine  that  such  men  as  he  were  the  ones  who  first 
settled  our  States :  they  were  friends  of  the  Indians, 
and  tried  to  help  them." 

"A  good  thought,  little  girl,"  said  her  Father. 
"We  can  be  proud  of  the  fact  that  the  white  men 
who  first  came  into  the  Illinois  country  were  always 
well  disposed  to  the  Indians.     The  fights  that  we 

45 


46  ILLINOIS 

read  about  were  between  warring  tribes  of  the 
natives  themselves." 

"What  happened  to  Joliet  after  Father  Mar- 
quette's death?"  asked  Howard,  eager  to  get  on  with 
the  story. 

"As  I  told  you  last  night,  he  went  on  to  Quebec," 
said  Uncle  John;  "and  the  ending  of  his  long 
journey  is  tragic.  The  St.  Lawrence  River  is  full 
of  rapids.  He  had  shot  no  less  than  forty-two  of 
them,  and  was  within  sight  of  La  Chine,  a  white 
settlement,  when  his  trail  canoe  overturned,  leaving 
the  three  men  struggling  in  the  swift  current. 
Joliet's  two  companions  were  drowned,  and  he  him- 
self barely  escaped  with  his  life.  All  his  valuable 
papers  and  maps  showing  his  long  journey  went 
down  with  the  canoe.     He  landed  with  bare  hands. 

"Frontenac  was  then  in  command  at  Quebec — 
another  of  those  brilliant  men  who  helped  to  make 
the  name  of  Louis  XIV  of  France  great.  I  wish  we 
had  time  to  tell  about  him.  And  there  was  another 
able  man  there  also,  a  trusted  friend  of  Frontenac's. 
His  name  was  Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle.  Al- 
though only  a  young  man  at  this  time,  La  Salle  was 
a  born  explorer,  but  he  was  something  more  than 
this — he  was  a  man  of  vision  who  saw  a  great  empire 
of  New  France  in  these  lands  to  the  west,  and  who 
was  ambitious  to  build  a  chain  of  forts  along  the 
Great  Lakes  and  down  the  Mississippi,  and  thus 
hold  the  land  for  King  Louis. 

"The  story  that  Joliet  told  fired  the  minds  of  all 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    47 


Robert  Cavelier  de  La  Salle 

who  heard  him;  and  the  man  himself  was  given  a 
royal  reception.  But  no  hearer  was  more  eager  than 
La  Salle.  He  made  careful  notes  of  all  that  the 
trader  told,  and  drew  a  rough  map  of  the  whole 
country.  Although  a  young  man,  La  Salle  was  not 
untried.  He  had  already  won  his  spurs  by  a  long 
inland  journey  ending,  it  is  claimed,  with  the 
discovery  of  the  Ohio  River. 

"La  Salle  was  a  man  born  to  command.  Tall, 
handsome,  of  fine  presence,  he  was  equally  at  home 
in  the  King's  court,  as  in  the  wilds.  He  was  stern 
and  quiet,  and  kept  his  own  counsel,  but  had  that 
rare  ability  of  inspiring  devotion  in  his  followers, 
which  led  them  to  endure  any  hardship.  And  he 
was  a  man  of  broader  world  vision  than  either  Mar- 
quette or  Joliet.    While  one  was  content  to  found 


48  ILLINOIS 

missions,  and  the  other  to  set  up  trading  posts,  La 
Salle  wanted  to  establish  an  empire. 

"He  was  only  twenty-three  when  he  came  to 
Canada.  He  had  received  a  good  education  in 
France,  but  had  always  dreamed  of  seeking  the 
Northwest  Passage  to  India.  When  he  first  heard  of 
the  Mississippi,  he  planned  to  follow  its  broad  cur- 
rent to  the  western  sea.  He  named  his  Canadian 
home,  near  Montreal,  La  Chine,  or  'China,'  and  the 
rapids  bear  his  name  to  the  present  day.  Now  that 
Joliet  reported  that  the  Great  River  flowed  south 
and  not  west,  he  was  all  the  more  eager  to  follow  it 
to  its  mouth — and  he  devoted  the  rest  of  his  life  to 
this  quest,  as  we  shall  see. 

"  'I  must  go  to  France  and  see  the  King/  he  said  to 
his  friend,  Frontenac.  And  the  Governor,  laying 
his  hands  upon  the  young  man's  shoulders  and  look- 
ing into  his  eager  eyes,  echoed,  'You  must  go  to 
France  and  see  the  King.' 

"I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell  you  about  all  the  early 
adventures  of  this  remarkable  man,  La  Salle:  How 
he  first  made  his  fortunes  in  this  country  as  a  trader 
in  furs,  and  then  sold  his  home,  La  Chine,  to  obtain 
funds  to  press  his  explorations.  He  never  seems  to 
have  been  a  self-seeker,  but  was  very  often  in  finan- 
cial straits  because  of  his  explorations.  With  him, 
his  country  always  came  first. 

"He  went  to  France  and  saw  Colbert,  the  power- 
ful minister  of  the  King,  and  finally  Louis  himself. 
His  mission  was  successful.     They  were  quick  to 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    49 

see,  with  him,  the  great  advantage  of  making  secure 
the  French  hold  upon  the  two  largest  inland  water- 
ways— the  St.  Lawrence  at  the  north,  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi at  the  west,  with  the  natural  barrier  of  the 
Great  Lakes  in  between.  One  quick  blow  now,  and 
all  this  vast  empire  would  be  theirs  forever.  La 
Salle  was  granted  letters  patent  and  given  supplies 
to  begin  this  great  enterprise,  and  in  July,  1678,  set 
sail  again  for  this  country. 

"Another  piece  of  good  fortune  was  his,  while  in 
France.  He  met  Henry  de  Tonty,  whose  name 
will  always  be  linked  with  his  in  the  adventures 
which  followed.  Tonty  was  an  Italian  soldier  of 
fortune,  who  had  lost  a  hand  in  wars  in  Sicily.  It 
had  been  replaced  by  one  of  copper,  and  despite 
this  handicap  he  more  than  held  his  own.  In  fact, 
the  Indians  later  came  to  look  upon  him  almost  with 
superstition,  and  called  him  'Tonty  of  the  Iron 
Hand.'  Between  the  two  an  instant  friendship 
sprang  up,  and  Tonty,  on  his  part,  asked  nothing 
better  than  to  follow  this  ambitious  young  French- 
man in  his  scheme  of  empire  building. 

"Arrived  back  in  Quebec,  in  September,  they 
found  another  who  wished  to  join  their  party — 
Father  Louis  Hennepin,  a  Franciscan  friar — and 
these  three  headed  the  new  expedition. 

"As  a  first  step,  La  Salle  built  a  'wooden  canoe,' 
the  largest  that  the  Indians  had  seen.  It  was  a  heavy 
rowboat  with  sides  high  enough  to  stow  a  good-sized 
cargo — ten  tons,  or  twenty  thousand  pounds,  count- 


50  ILLINOIS 

ing  the  crew.  So  it  must  have  required  a  number  of 
rowers,  if  they  were  not  aided  by  a  sail.  With  this 
they  crossed  Lake  Ontario  and  went  up  the  Niagara 
River  almost  to  the  Falls.  Then  they  carried  their 
goods  above  the  Falls,  and  set  about  building  a  ship 
of  sixty  tons.  This  was  completed  by  the  Summer 
of  1679,  and  launched  with  much  rejoicing  and  the 
singing  of  hymns  on  Lake  Erie.  It  was  christened 
the  Griffin,  and  was  the  first  ship  to  sail  these  waters. 
How  amazed  must  the  red  men  have  been,  as  they 
saw  this  monster  bear  down  upon  them! 

"La  Salle's  scheme,  which  seemed  a  good  one,  was 
to  use  this  ship  to  bring  supplies  through  the  Lakes, 
from  the  East,  and  also  carry  back  furs,  and  thus 
have  an  easy  and  steady  communication  with  the 
home  base.  It  proved  him  to  be  a  man  of  foresight, 
and  if  the  plan  had  worked,  it  would  have  made  the 
labor  of  the  explorers  very  much  easier. 

"The  first  voyage  west  was  made  without  mis- 
hap. They  crossed  Lake  Erie,  went  through  the 
straits  where  Detroit  now  stands,  on  through  Lake 
Huron  and  so  into  Michigan,  coming  to  anchor  in 
Green  Bay.  Here  the  natives,  after  their  first  shock 
of  surprise  and  terror  was  over,  crowded  around 
them,  and  willingly  traded  their  furs  for  guns,  foods, 
clothing,  and  trinkets.  When  the  Griffin  turned 
back,  it  carried  a  rich  cargo,  which  was  to  be  ex- 
changed in  Canada  for  supplies.  At  Green  Bay, 
La  Salle  bade  his  ship  farewell,  and  started  south 
on  his  own  great  mission.     He  had  fourteen  in  his 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    51 

party,  in  three  canoes.    Tonty  was  to  follow  with 
more  men  and  supplies. 

"Their  voyage  down  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan 
was  not  easy.  It  was  getting  late  in  the  Fall,  and  the 
cold  winds  were  sweeping  across  the  lake,  threaten- 
ing to  swamp  the  boats,  and  frequently  drenching 
them  to  the  skin.  More  than  once  a  boat  would  be 
overturned  in  the  surf — for  they  did  not  dare 
venture  far  out — and  then  it  required  quick  action 
to  save  its  contents.  The  men  would  struggle  ashore, 
often  so  weary  that  they  would  throw  themselves 
down,  as  they  were,  upon  the  bare  ground  to  sleep. 

"Taking  counsel  with  his  Indian  guides,  La  Salle 
went  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  River, 
where  the  missionary,  Allouez,  had  placed  a  station, 
and  there  built  a  fort,  known  as  the  Fort  of  the 
Miamis.  Here  he  waited  for  some  weeks  for  tidings 
of  his  ship,  which  was  to  bring  much-needed  material 
for  the  Winter.  But  none  came,  and  they  faced  the 
Winter  with  starvation  rations.  It  was  a  critical 
time,  and  La  Salle  realized  that  his  only  course  was 
to  push  ahead,  and  trust  to  hunting  and  getting  grain 
from  the  Indians.  So,  leaving  a  few  men  to  guard 
the  fort,  La  Salle  and  Tonty,  with  a  band  of  about 
thirty,  went  up  the  St.  Joseph,  crossed  over  the 
portage  to  the  Kankakee,  and  thus  reached  the 
Illinois. 

"At  last,  near  what  is  now  Utica,  they  came  to  a 
good-sized  Indian  village,  but  were  sorely  disap- 
pointed to  find  it  deserted.     The  natives  were  all 


52  ILLINOIS 

away  on  a  hunt.  The  men  were  so  hungry,  how- 
ever, that  they  searched  the  cabins  and  soon  found 
some  caches  or  hidden  stores  of  corn,  and  with  this 
they  made  quite  a  feast. 

"Near  Peoria  Lake  they  finally  came  upon  the 
Indians;  they  were  of  the  Illinois  tribes,  the  same 
that  had  been  so  friendly  to  Marquette.  But  they 
viewed  these  newcomers  with  suspicion.  They  had 
heard  that  the  Frenchmen  were  allied  with  the  Iro- 
quois who  were  making  war  upon  them,  and  were 
now  planning  to  take  their  country  away  from  them. 
La  Salle  told  them  that  he  was  their  friend  and  on 
a  peaceful  mission.  He  only  sought  to  follow  the 
Great  River  to  its  mouth. 

"  'Do  not  go,'  they  said.  'There  are  monsters  that 
lurk  in  the  waters,  and  savage  tribes  along  the  shores. 
They  will  destroy  you.' 

"It  was  the  same  argument  which  had  been  used 
with  Marquette,  and  again  it  fell  upon  deaf  ears. 
But  some  of  La  Salle's  men  overheard  it  and  threat- 
ened to  desert.  Besides,  it  seemed  a  poor  time,  in  the 
dead  of  Winter,  to  try  to  go  on.  So  they  stopped 
here,  and  built  another  fort.  But  they  had  become 
so  discouraged  over  the  prospects — with  no  tidings 
of  their  missing  ship — that  this  was  called  Fort 
Crevecceur,  or  'broken-hearted.'  " 

"Some  different,"  said  Howard,  as  if  to  himself, 
"from  roosting  on  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  now — 
even  on  a  stormy  night!" 

"You  are  right,"  said  his  Uncle.    "And  as  we  read 


The  Men  Would  Struggle  Ashore 


[See  page  51] 


LIBRARY 
THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    55 

these  old  records,  it  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  just  what 
hardships  the  early  explorers  endured.  To  build  a 
fort  in  the  coldest  days  of  Winter,  and  to  depend  in 
the  meantime  upon  occasional  wild  animals  that 
could  be  shot  or  trapped,  or  grain  brought  in  by  un- 
certain Indians,  was  no  small  task.  Further  than 
this,  La  Salle  and  Tonty  had  to  keep  up  the  spirit 
of  their  men,  to  prevent  them  from  deserting  out- 
right. It  is  said  that  there  was  treason  in  the  camp, 
and  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  poison  the  brave 
leader;  but  fortunately  it  failed. 

"With  the  first  days  of  Spring,  La  Salle  resolved 
to  undertake  a  cross-country  march  eastward,  to 
learn  the  fate  of  the  Griffin,  and  to  get  supplies.  The 
little  party  was  split  up  into  three.  Father  Hen- 
nepin was  sent  to  explore  the  lower  courses  of  the 
Illinois;  Tonty  was  left  in  charge  of  Fort  Creve- 
coeur;  while  La  Salle  himself,  with  only  three  men, 
set  out  on  the  trail  to  the  east.  It  was  a  march  of 
twelve  hundred  miles,  through  marshes  and  melting 
snowdrifts,  across  swollen  streams  and  trackless  for- 
ests. For  food,  they  must  depend  upon  their  guns; 
for  shelter,  some  piled-up  boughs.  It  was  scouting 
with  a  capital  S." 

"I'll  say  so!"  said  Howard,  who  was  himself  a 
Boy  Scout.    "La  Salle  was  some  man!" 

"I  think  he  was,  too,"  agreed  his  Father.  "This 
one  exploit  was  enough  to  make  him  famous.  But 
he  tackled  problems  as  hard  as  this,  his  whole  life." 

"What  happened  to  the  Griffin?"  asked  Edna. 


56  ILLINOIS 

"La  Salle  found  that  it  had  been  wrecked — some 
said,  by  his  enemies  who  were  jealous  of  his  great 
plans.  His  goods  were  stolen,  or  seized  by  his  cred- 
itors, and  of  the  fine  cargo  of  furs  which  he  had  sent 
back  East,  nothing  remained.  A  less  courageous 
man  than  he  would  have  given  up  in  despair — but 
not  La  Salle.  He  obtained  a  further  grant  of  sup- 
plies, organized  a  new  party,  and  once  more  re- 
turned to  the  Illinois  country. 

"Again,  bad  tidings  awaited  him.  The  northern 
tribes  had  made  one  of  their  raids  upon  the  South; 
and  this  time  they  all  but  wiped  out  the  Illinois.  It 
was  one  of  the  fiercest  struggles  that  had  ever  been 
waged.  Rumors  have  come  down  to  us  of  an  Indian 
battle,  in  which  thousands  of  warriors  were  engaged. 
The  Illinios  were  defeated,  and  driven  entirely  out 
of  their  land.  A  handful  of  them  made  a  last  stand 
on  the  summit  of  a  cliff,  called  'Starved  Rock,'  and 
there  perished  to  the  last  man.  The  other  survivors, 
with  the  women  and  children,  fled  across  the  river 
to  the  west. 

"And  this  was  not  all  the  bad  news.  Tonty  had 
disappeared,  and  his  fort  was  in  ruins.  But  this  was 
not  the  work  of  the  Indians.  La  Salle  found  out 
later  that  Tonty's  own  men  had  mutinied  and  de- 
serted him,  after  looting  the  fort  of  all  the  guns,  am- 
munition, and  other  supplies.  Tonty  himself  had  to 
take  refuge  with  the  Indians,  and  it  was  while  he  was 
with  them,  that  the  great  attack  of  the  Iroquois 
took  place.     The  brave  Frenchman  tried  to  make 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    57 

peace  among  the  warring  tribes,  but  almost  lost  his 
life  in  the  attempt.  He  was  wounded  and  made 
prisoner. 

"The  wanderings  and  adventures  of  Tonty  'of  the 
Iron  Hand/  and  of  an  iron  will,  make  a  story  in 
themselves.  After  many  hardships,  he  escaped  and 
found  his  way  to  a  village  of  the  Pottawatomies, 
where  he  spent  the  next  Winter.  Then,  recovered 
from  his  wound,  he  went  back  up  the  Illinois  and 
across  to  the  Lake,  and  there  rejoined  La  Salle,  who 
welcomed  him  as  one  from  the  dead. 

"Although  it  was  now  Midwinter — February, 
1682 — the  undaunted  La  Salle  planned  a  new  ex- 
pedition, his  third,  and  again  his  little  fleet  of  canoes, 
headed  by  himself  and  Tonty,  paddled  down  the  icy 
waters  of  Lake  Michigan.  This  time,  they  entered 
the  mouth  of  the  Chicago,  going  from  there  by  way 
of  the  Des  Plaines  to  the  Illinois,  and  on  south  into 
the  Mississippi.  By  the  24th  of  that  month  they  had 
reached  the  Third  Chickasaw  Bluff,  where  they 
landed  to  hunt,  and  thus  renew  their  food  supplies. 
Here  also  they  built  a  fort,  which  they  called  Fort 
Prudhomme — so  called  for  one  of  the  men  who  got 
lost  in  their  hunting  trip  and  never  returned.  In 
this  fort  a  few  men  were  left  to  await  their  return. 

"Although  they  naturally  kept  a  keen  lookout  as 
they  went  down  this  strange  and  mighty  stream, 
where,  the  Indians  had  said,  so  many  hidden  dangers 
lurked,  they  had  few  adventures.  Once,  a  band  of 
savages  fired  upon  them  from  a  canebrake  on  the 


58  ILLINOIS 

bank,  but  they  wisely  refrained  from  returning  the 
fire.  Nor  did  they  camp  on  the  shores  at  night,  where 
they  might  be  surprised. 

"In  this  manner  they  paddled  steadily  south,  and 
the  sun  grew  warmer  as  they  reached  the  milder 
climate,  and  the  days  of  Spring  advanced.  Finally, 
they  found  the  river  splitting  into  three  great 
streams.  A  council  was  held,  and  it  was  decided  to 
explore  all  three.  Tonty  was  sent  down  one;  another 
leader  took  the  second;  while  La  Salle  followed  the 
third.  Presently  one  of  the  party  dipped  his  hand 
into  the  river,  to  drink,  and  gave  a  shout.  'It  is  the 
sea!'  he  said.  The  water  had  a  salty  taste,  indeed; 
and  they  knew  they  were  not  far  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Father  of  Waters.  This  spot  that  men  had  talked 
about,  and  dreamed  about,  for  almost  two  centuries, 
was  theirs  to  achieve.  It  must  have  been  a  proud 
and  happy  moment  in  La  Salle's  life,  after  all  his 
disappointments. 

"The  next  day,  April  9,  1682,  his  long  search  was 
rewarded.  A  few  more  lusty  strokes  from  his  rowers, 
and  the  canoes  shot  out  of  the  current,  flowing  slowly 
between  its  reedy  banks,  out  upon  the  dancing  waters 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Then  the  leader  summoned 
all  his  followers,  and  the  canoes  were  beached  upon 
the  shore  near  one  of  the  mouths,  and  La  Salle  pre- 
pared to  take  possession  of  the  whole  domain  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  in  the  name  of  his  sovereign. 

"It  must  have  been  an  impressive  sight.  They 
erected  a  cross,  and  by  its  side  a  column,  bearing  the 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    59 

coat  of  arms  of  France.  In  those  days  they  did  not 
raise  flags,  as  they  would  soon  be  whipped  to  pieces, 
if  left  flying  day  and  night.  But  a  monument  such 
as  this  might,  and  did,  stay  for  many  years.  Then 
these  hardy  voyagers  knelt  in  prayer,  led  by  the 
black-robed  priest,  and  sang  a  Te  Deum,  or  hymn 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  And  then  their  leader 
stood  up,  bronzed  and  bearded  from  their  long 
journey.  He  looked  every  inch  the  leader,  as  his  tall 
form  straightened  up,  and  he  looked  first  out  upon 
the  broad  sea  and  then  up  the  river  they  had  been 
the  first  white  men  to  traverse. 

"  'By  the  grace  of  God,'  he  said,  'and  in  the  name 
of  Louis  the  Great,  King  of  France  and  of  Navarre, 
I  lay  claim  to  this  domain.  It  shall  be  called 
Louisiana.'  " 

Uncle  John  paused  a  moment  in  his  story,  to  light 
his  pipe.  Outside  the  wind  still  whistled,  and  the 
rain  beat  upon  the  windows.  No  one  spoke  for  a 
moment,  until  Howard  sighed  and  spoke  as  if  to  him- 
self. 

"Jiminy!  I  wish  I  could  have  gone  along  with 
La  Salle!  Seems  as  if  everything  had  been  dis- 
covered, these  days!" 

The  others  laughed  at  this,  but  Edna,  the  practical, 
lost  no  time  in  steering  the  story  back  on  to  the  cur- 
rent of  the  river. 

"Did  La  Salle  come  back  to  Illinois?"  she  asked. 

"Yes,  after  resting  a  few  days,  the  expedition 
headed  back  upstream  again;  and  doubtless  found 


60  ILLINOIS 

it  as  hard  and  monotonous  going  as  was  the  case  with 
Marquette.  Like  Marquette,  also,  La  Salle  took 
sick — perhaps  from  malaria  brought  on  by  mos- 
quito bites — and  for  a  while  his  men  feared  that  he 
would  die.  When  they  got  as  far  as  Fort  Prud- 
homme,  which,  you  will  remember,  they  had  built 
on  their  way  downstream,  they  took  the  sick  man 
ashore.  There  he  remained  for  many  weary  weeks, 
his  active  spirit  chafing  under  the  enforced  idleness. 
He  saw  so  much  to  be  done,  and  now  he  couldn't 
lift  a  finger.  But  at  last  he  recovered  health  and 
strength,  and  went  back  up  the  Illinois,  to  the  cliff 
called  Starved  Rock. 

"Here  he  began  the  ambitious  project  of  founding 
a  colony  and  trading  post.  He  wanted  it  as  a  sort  of 
halfway  station,  between  Canada,  at  the  north,  and 
the  fort  which  he  hoped  later  to  build  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  of  special  interest  to  us  as 
being  one  of  the  first  permanent  white  settlements 
begun  in  our  State. 

"This  place,  which  he  called  St.  Louis  of  the 
Rocks,  and  which  is  now  a  State  Park,  was  natur- 
ally fortified  and  by  building  a  blockhouse  they 
could  make  it  strong  enough  to  withstand  a  large 
number  of  foes.  As  its  fame  grew,  other  French 
traders  made  it  their  headquarters,  until  it  became  a 
prosperous  settlement,  just  as  La  Salle  had  hoped 
and  planned.  He  himself  remained  here  for  several 
months,  and  after  he  left  Tonty  stayed  for  some 
years. 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    61 

"But  the  restless  leader,  still  dreaming  his  dreams 
of  empire,  returned  to  Quebec,  and  thence  to  Paris, 
where  he  made  a  formal  report  of  his  great  dis- 
coveries, and  asked  the  means  of  organizing  a  still 
greater  expedition  and  building  forts  in  the  South. 
This,  he  reasoned  with  the  King  and  his  ministers, 
would  prevent  the  Spaniards  from  extending  their 
possessions  to  the  west,  and  would  secure  that  whole 
vast  country,  called  Louisiana,  to  the  French  for  all 
time.  King  Louis  favored  this  scheme;  and  perhaps 
the  fact  that  the  new  empire  bore  his  name  pleased 
his  vanity.  In  any  event,  he  gave  royal  orders 
that  a  fleet  of  four  vessels  be  placed  at  La  Salle's  dis- 
posal. 

"At  once  the  energetic  explorer  set  to  work,  and 
within  a  few  weeks  the  expedition  was  ready  to  set 
sail  from  France.  There  were  two  hundred  and 
eighty  men  on  board — soldiers,  priests,  traders,  me- 
chanics of  all  sorts — besides  a  large  quantity  of  sup- 
plies for  founding  the  new  colony.  They  sailed 
directly  across  the  Atlantic  for  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

"Still,  however,  La  Salle's  ill  luck  pursued  him. 
All  his  life  this  was  the  case,  and  it  is  a  wonder  that 
he  succeeded  as  far  as  he  did.  I  have  not  time  to 
tell  you  all  the  details  of  that  ill-starred  voyage.  The 
officer  in  charge  of  the  little  fleet,  Beaujeu  by  name, 
was  jealous  of  La  Salle,  and  quarreled  with  him. 
There  may  have  been  fault  on  both  sides.  But  it  was 
an  unpromising  start.  On  the  way  over,  they  were 
overhauled  by  pirates,  and  one  of  the  ships  was  cap- 


62  ILLINOIS 

tured.  The  other  three  put  in  at  San  Domingo,  with 
many  sick  aboard,  among  them  La  Salle  himself. 
Much  precious  time  was  lost.  They  had  started 
from  France  in  July,  1682,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
following  New  Year's  Day  that  they  finally  reached 
the  western  shores  of  the  Gulf. 

"Here  more  troubles  awaited  them.  One  of  their 
three  remaining  vessels  was  wrecked;  and  they 
missed  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  which  they 
sought.  It  is  not  strange  that  they  should  miss  it,  as 
none  of  the  party  had  ever  come  that  way  before — 
not  even  La  Salle — and  its  exact  location  on  the 
Gulf  was  still  a  matter  of  guesswork.  Nevertheless, 
Beaujeu  openly  scorned  La  Salle,  and  sought  to 
undermine  him  with  his  men. 

"Actually,  they  were  about  four  hundred  miles 
west  of  the  river,  on  the  shore  of  what  is  now  Texas. 
Beaujeu  debarked  his  men  and  goods,  and  lost  no 
time  in  sailing  away  again,  leaving  the  little  colony 
to  shift  for  itself. 

"It  was  in  times  like  this  that  the  fine  spirit  of  La 
Salle  shone  forth.  He  rallied  his  men,  and  set  about 
building  a  fort  without  delay.  Hostile  Indians 
lurked  about,  ready  to  pick  off  a  stray  man,  or  loot 
any  supplies  left  unguarded.  Likewise  they  feared 
that  the  Spaniards  might  march  against  them.  This 
little  fort  and  colony  was  planted  on  the  Lavaca 
River,  above  Matagorda  Bay.  You  can  find  its  site 
on  the  map  of  Texas,  though  the  settlement  itself 
was  doomed  to  perish. 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    63 

"With  this  fort  set  up,  La  Salle  realized  that  he 
must  get  in  touch  with  Tonty,  at  the  north,  and  find 
again  the  lost  Mississippi.  Tonty  himself  had  mean- 
while gone  with  a  party  down  the  river,  in  an  at- 
tempt to  find  his  leader.  But  it  was  fated  that  these 
two  hardy  voyagers  were  never  more  to  clasp 
hands. 

"We  can  picture  the  brave  La  Salle  bidding  fare- 
well to  his  colonists  on  the  little  Texas  stream,  and 
starting  out  on  his  march,  with  a  picked  body  of  men, 


A  Third  Time  La  Salle  Essayed  the  Journey 


64  ILLINOIS 

along  the  Gulf  Coast.  A  Louisiana  writer,  Mr. 
George  W.  Cable,  thus  describes  the  country.  'From 
Sabine  Lake  to  Chandeleur  Bay  .  .  .  stretch  the 
Gulf  marshes,  the  wild  haunt  of  myriads  of  birds 
and  water-fowl,  serpents  and  saurians,  hares,  rac- 
coons, and  wildcats,  deep-bellowing  frogs,  and  clouds 
of  insects.'  The  summer  was  hot,  and  many  of  his 
men  took  sick.  They  were  forced  to  turn  back,  and 
later  made  a  fresh  start.  Again  the  marshes  and 
the  desolate  country  to  the  north  were  too  much  for 
them.  A  third  time  the  dauntless  leader  essayed  the 
journey.  This  time  they  had  obtained  some  ponies 
from  the  Indians,  and  they  hoped  to  succeed.  In- 
deed, La  Salle  realized  that  they  must  get  through, 
if  the  little  colony  in  the  South  was  to  live. 

"But  treachery  had  long  been  at  work  in  his  camp. 
The  men  were  discouraged  from  repeated  failures, 
and  they  preferred  to  get  him  out  of  the  way,  and 
shift  for  themselves.  They  secretly  plotted  against 
him,  and  shot  him  from  ambush.  This  foul  deed 
was  done  on  March  19,  1687.  * 

"And  so  perished,  on  the  plains  of  the  Southwest, 
one  of  the  greatest  explorers  of  this  or  any  other 
land.  Although  still  a  comparatively  young  man — 
only  forty-four — he  had  spent  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  in  making  known  to  the  rest  of  the  world  this 
great  central  region  known  as  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
As  long  as  the  mighty  river  shall  flow,  will  his  name 
be  associated  with  it.     For  thousands  of  miles,  by 

1  See  "Texas,  A  Romantic  Story  for  Young  People,"  in  this  series. 


LA  SALLE,  THE  EMPIRE  BUILDER    65 

canoe  and  on  foot,  he  made  his  way,  braving  constant 
danger  and  every  imaginable  hardship.  With  daunt- 
less courage  and  a  world  vision  rare  in  any  age,  there 
are  few  names  that  shine  out  brighter  on  the  pages 
of  our  early  history  than  that  of  Robert  Cavelier  de 
la  Salle."  ' 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FIRST  FRENCH  TOWNS 

THE  next  morning  was  warm  and  clear,  at  the 
Ferguson  camp  — one  of  those  still  days  in 
late  August  when  all  nature  seems  asleep. 
However,  the  wind  and  the  rain  of  the  night  before 
had  whipped  the  air  clean,  while  the  foliage  and 
flowers  never  looked  more  inviting.  So  the  four  of 
them  started  out  on  an  all-day  hike,  a  sort  of  go-as- 
you-please  affair.  They  had  sandwiches  in  their 
pockets,  to  serve  as  a  midday  meal,  and  they  stopped 
in  a  little  natural  grotto  by  the  side  of  a  cool  spring 
to  eat  them.  An  apple  apiece  proved  a  very  satis- 
factory "topper,"  as  Howard  called  it. 

It  was  while  resting  here  that  the  story  of  the  early 
explorers  and  settlers  was  resumed,  at  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  both  Howard  and  Edna. 

"Go  on,  Uncle  John,  do,"  Edna  pleaded.  "It's 
too  hot  to  walk  for  an  hour  or  so.  I'm  like  the  child 
reading  the  fairy  story.  I  want  to  know  what  hap- 
pened next.  But  I  do  think  it  was  a  shame  that  the 
noble  La  Salle  didn't  live  to  see  his  colonies  estab- 
lished." 

"True,"  said  her  Father.    "But  the  story  of  many 

66 


THE  FIRST  FRENCH  TOWNS         67 

of  these  brave  adventurers  ends  badly.  You  remem- 
ber how  poorly  Columbus  was  treated  in  his  old 
age." 

Uncle  John  nodded  as  he  filled  his  pipe.  Then 
he  began : 

"La  Salle  did  live  to  taste  some  of  the  fruits  of 
his  labors,  in  Illinois;  and  doubtless  could  have  re- 
mained here  and  become  a  very  wealthy  man,  had 
not  his  great  ambitions  for  empire  kept  urging  him 
on.  But  through  his  efforts,  and  others',  the  seeds  of 
colonization  were  sown,  and  it  was  not  long  after  his 
death  until  we  find  the  first  towns  springing  up. 

"You  will  recall  that  just  before  Father  Mar- 
quette's death  he  had  established  a  mission  at  the 
Indian  village  of  Kaskaskia,  on  the  Illinois  River. 
For  a  time  this  mission  was  abandoned,  until  Father 
Allouez  came  there  and  raised  a  cross  twenty-five 
feet  high,  and  summoned  the  tribes  to  attend  mass. 
Later,  through  fear  of  the  fierce  northern  tribes,  the 
Indians  moved  their  village  to  the  southern  part  of 
the  country,  on  the  Kaskaskia  River,  near  where  it 
flows  into  the  Mississippi;  and  the  mission  perforce 
moved  with  it.  Thus  was  founded  the  present  town 
of  Kaskaskia,  about  the  year  1700,  or  perhaps  ten  or 
fifteen  years  earlier.  It  was  one  of  the  earliest,  if  not 
the  very  earliest,  of  our  towns.  Father  Gravier  is 
said  to  be  its  founder,  and  soon  after  its  settlement 
Father  Pinet  set  up  a  mission  at  Cahokia.  Not  long 
after  this,  Peoria  was  founded,  on  the  Illinois  near 
the  ruins  of  old  Fort  Crevecceur.    Then  other  trad- 


68  ILLINOIS 

ing  posts  sprang  up,  such  as  Prairie  du  Rocher,  and 
Prairie  du  Pont.  By  the  year  1720,  there  were  said 
to  be  four  hundred  or  five  hundred  white  persons 
living  permanently  in  this  country. 

"That  meant  much  larger  settlements,  as  the 
French  frequently  intermarried  with  the  Indians, 
and  there  was  always  a  large  number  of  the  red 
men  living  near  such  towns,  or  coming  into  them 
to  barter." 

"Tell  us  more  about  one  of  these  first  towns,"  said 
Edna.  "How  did  they  live — just  by  hunting  and 
fishing?" 

"Far  from  that,"  laughed  her  Uncle.  "They 
speedily  became  quite  civilized  and  well-to-do,  in 
their  own  way.  You  know,  many  of  the  Illinois 
Indians  tilled  the  soil,  and  the  white  settlers  found 
it  wonderfully  fertile.  It  was  not  long  until  they 
had  fine  farms,  and  many  head  of  cattle  and  pigs. 
With  the  forests  full  of  game  and  the  rivers  teeming 
with  fish,  these  first  French  families  lived  off  the  fat 
of  the  land.  And  they  had  cultivated  such  friendly 
relations  with  the  Indians  everywhere,  that  they 
could  go  to  any  part  of  the  country  in  safety.  It  is 
a  pleasing  picture  that  all  the  early  writers  give  of 
the  French  settlements  in  Illinois. 

"They  built  a  stone  monastery  and  also  a  church  in 
Kaskaskia,  in  1721 ;  also  a  brewery  and  warehouses 
for  furs  and  other  goods.  The  priests  themselves 
owned  a  well-stocked  farm  of  over  two  hundred 
acres,  which  was  worked  on  shares  by  the  Indians. 


THE  FIRST  FRENCH  TOWNS 


69 


At  Cahokia  they  had  another  large  farm,  and  they 
built  mills  to  grind  corn  and  cut  lumber,  by  water- 
power. 

"If  we  could  look  into  the  home  of  one  of  these 
French  settlers,  we  would  find  a  tight  little  cabin, 
of  a  single  story,  and  usually  of  only  two  rooms,  with 
a  cheery-looking  fireplace  at  one  end.  There  were 
porches  on  all  sides,  as  they  were  people  who  were 
outdoors  at  all  times  when  the  weather  permitted, 
and  many  times  when  we  might  have  thought  it  did 
not  permit.  The  cabins  were  made  of  logs,  with  the 
chinks  tightly  calked  with  clay  or  wheat  straw.  The 
walls  were  whitewashed  inside  and  out,  and  a  row 


The  Cabins  Were  Made  of  Logs 


70  ILLINOIS 

of  these  white  log  houses,  with  their  vine-covered 
porches,  made  a  very  cheerful-looking  street  in- 
deed. 

"Inside,  there  was  little  furniture,  and  that  home- 
made. The  busy  housewife,  whether  Indian  or 
French,  made  garments  out  of  skins,  and  also  used 
heavy  pelts  such  as  buffalo  skins  for  blankets.  At 
this  time  there  were  no  looms  of  any  sort.  When 
they  had  woolen  or  cotton  garments,  the  cloth  was 
brought  in  by  traders.  But  the  skins  of  wild  animals 
were  so  plentiful  that  they  got  along  very  well. 
Both  the  men  and  the  women  wore  moccasins,  like 
the  Indians.  In  Summer  the  men  wore  cotton  shirts 
and  deerskin  trousers;  in  winter,  a  long  fur  coat, 
with  a  cap  attached,  which  was  pulled  up  over  their 
head  and  kept  their  ears  warm.  The  women  dressed 
quite  simply,  in  wool  or  cotton,  when  they  could  get 
it,  and  blue  was  their  favorite  color. 

"Their  everyday  life  was  almost  as  simple  as  that 
of  their  red  neighbors.  Indeed,  it  has  been  charged 
against  the  French  that  too  often  they  descended  to 
the  level  of  the  red  man,  instead  of  lifting  him  up 
to  a  higher  plane.  The  French  had  a  community 
system  in  their  towns — that  is,  they  shared  many 
things  in  common.  We  do  not  find  them  living 
alone  in  widely  scattered  houses,  but  close  to- 
gether in  villages  or  towns.  This  was  both  because 
they  were  socially  inclined,  and  also  for  protection 
against  possible  roving  bands  of  Indians  who,  how- 
ever friendly,  were  apt  to  steal  things. 


THE  FIRST  FRENCH  TOWNS         71 

"At  the  edge  of  the  village  there  were  two  tracts 
of  land — a  'common  field'  and  a  'common.'  The 
first  was  a  field  of  perhaps  several  hundred  acres, 
fenced  in  by  a  'galloping'  rail  fence,  or  one  of  stumps 
or  brush.  It  belonged  to  the  whole  village,  but  each 
family  had  its  own  section  carefully  marked  off  from 
the  rest.  Here  grew  in  profusion  wheat,  barley, 
maize  or  Indian  corn,  squash,  pumpkins,  beans, 
potatoes,  and  other  vegetables.  Much  of  this  was 
stored  in  the  Winter  in  little  dugouts  covered  with 
earth,  the  corn  and  wheat  being  ground  at  the  village 
mill. 

"The  second  public  field,  or  'common,'  was  a  still 
larger  tract,  on  which  all  the  cows,  horses,  or  pigs 
might  roam  at  large.  The  live  stock  of  each  owner 
had  his  own  mark.  Wood  for  building  and  for  fuel 
was  also  obtained  from  this  'common.' 

"Some  pleasant  customs  were  observed  in  these 
settlements.  If  the  head  of  a  family  were  sick  or 
absent,  his  household  never  suffered  want.  Their 
neighbors  tilled  their  land  for  them,  and  gladly 
shared  their  own  food.  The  sick  were  always  cared 
for,  and  there  were  no  paupers.  At  weddings  and 
parties,  the  music  and  dancing  lasted  far  into  the 
night;  and  at  funerals  the  whole  village  would 
mourn.  The  village,  indeed,  was  very  like  one  large 
family. 

"A  little  later  we  find  that  negroes  were  brought 
up  the  river  for  labor,  and  that  the  French  were 
rapidly  outgrowing  their  simple  ways  of  living;  for 


72  ILLINOIS 

in  1750,  Father  Vivier,  a  missionary,  has  this  to 
say let  me  see." 

At  this  point  Uncle  John  drew  a  small  book  from 
his  pocket,  and  read  as  follows: 

"  'There  are  five  French  villages,  and  three  vil- 
lages of  the  natives,  within  a  space  of  twenty-one 
leagues,  situated  between  the  Mississippi  and 
another  river  called  Kaskaskia.  In  the  five  French 
villages  are  perhaps  eleven  hundred  whites,  three 
hundred  blacks,  and  some  sixty  red  servants,  or 
savages.  The  three  Illinois  towns/  (that  is,  Indian 
villages)  'do  not  contain  more  than  eight  hundred 
souls,  all  told.  Most  of  the  French  till  the  soil. 
They  raise  wheat,  cattle,  pigs,  and  horses,  and  live 
like  princes.  Three  times  as  much  is  produced  as 
can  be  consumed;  and  great  quantities  of  grain  and 
flour  are  sent  to  New  Orleans.'  " 

"How  did  they  work  the  ground?"  asked  Howard. 
"Did  they  have  plows  and  other  tools  such  as  we 
have?" 

"No,"  answered  his  Uncle.  "Their  plows  were 
quite  simple  contrivances  of  wood,  made  by  fasten- 
ing a  heavy,  sharp  stick  to  the  under  side  of  a  beam; 
and  this  was  drawn  by  oxen  or  horses.  Their  hoes 
and  rakes  were  also  of  wood,  and  would  seem  very 
clumsy  to  us.  They  built  two-wheeled  carts  with- 
out a  particle  of  iron  in  them.  They  had  no  churns, 
so  they  made  butter  by  putting  the  milk  in  a  large 
crock  or  bottle,  and  shaking  it.  A  little  later  on, 
traveling    workmen    began    to    come    through    the 


THE  FIRST  FRENCH  TOWNS 


73 


-  *r-&Y 


Their  Plows  Were  Quite  Simple 

country,  such  as  stone-masons,  carpenters,  and 
blacksmiths;  and  better  tools,  furniture,  and  houses 
began  to  appear.  They  also  built  stanch  flatboats, 
in  which  to  convey  their  goods  down  the  river  to 
New  Orleans,  the  town  near  its  mouth  which  so  soon 
became  a  great  trading  center,  just  as  La  Salle  must 
have  dreamed.  Back  upstream  they  brought  many 
luxuries — cotton,  sugar,  rice,  tea,  coffee,  wines,  and 
silks  and  velvets  from  France.  So  you  see  that 
within  the  first  fifty  years  after  those  crude  settle- 
ments were  carved  out  of  the  wilderness,  they  began 
to  have  'all  the  comforts  of  home.' 


74  ILLINOIS 

"There  was  still  another  reason  for  the  prosperity 
of  this  new  land.  Reports  had  reached  France  of 
the  wonderful  resources  of  Louisiana,  as  this  whole 
section  was  then  called,  and  it  was  also  said  that 
there  were  gold  and  silver  to  be  found  here.  So 
French  companies  under  royal  charter  were  sent 
up  the  Mississippi  to  mine  the  precious  metals.  One 
such  was  under  the  command  of  Crozat,  who  failed 
in  his  attempt,  and  gave  up  his  charter  in  1717.  His 
failure  did  not  discourage  a  second  attempt,  made 
by  a  'Company  of  the  West' — a  high-sounding 
organization  which  was  to  have  control  over  every- 
thing— mines,  trading,  and  government.  At  its  head 
was  one  of  the  most  famous  swindlers  of  history, 
John  Law,  who  opened  an  office  in  Paris,  under 
government  approval,  and  sold  stock  in  the  new  con- 
cern at  amazing  prices.  This  rage  for  speculation 
came  to  be  called  the  'Mississippi  Bubble,'  after  it 
had  suddenly  burst  and  ruined  many  thousands  of 
people. 

"The  Company,  however,  was  a  benefit  to  Illinois, 
as  well  as  other  colonies,  while  it  lasted.  It  brought 
into  the  country  skilled  workmen  of  all  sorts.  Many 
who  had  come  over  to  mine  gold  remained  to  till 
the  soil,  and  thus  found  its  real  hidden  treasure. 
Better  still,  a  strong  central  fort  was  built  between 
Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia.  It  was  called  Fort 
Chartres,  and  large  storehouses  were  built,  and  here 
Boisbriant,  the  first  local  governor,  established  his 
headquarters.    This  was  in  1718,  and  marks  the  first 


THE  FIRST  FRENCH  TOWNS         75 

attempt  to  set  up  a  capital  in  Illinois.  Because  of 
its  being  the  seat  of  government  and  a  central  trading 
point,  the  new  town  soon  sprang  into  prominence; 
and  in  place  of  the  old  saying,  'All  roads  lead  to 
Rome/  they  said,  'All  roads  lead  to  Fort  Chartres.'  " 


CHAPTER  V 

HOW  THE  FRENCH  LOST  ILLINOIS 

AGAIN  the  evening  campfire  gleamed  in  the 
stone  fireplace  outside  the  Ferguson  cabin. 
Supper  was  over,  and  the  dishes  and  pans 
cleaned  and  put  away.  Then  Uncle  John  resumed 
his  story. 

"We  left  off,  I  believe,"  he  said,  "with  the  French 
settlers  thriving  and  happy  in  Illinois.  Seemingly 
the  country  was  theirs  forever.  However,  things 
were  shaping  themselves  in  the  East,  which  were 
soon  to  disturb  their  peaceful  possession. 

"At  this  time — 1750 — the  French  laid  claim  to 
the  whole  of  Canada,  and  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf.  But  the  English 
had  not  been  idle.  Already,  one  English  ship  had 
ventured  up  the  Mississippi,  and  English  scouts 
and  traders  were  crossing  the  Alleghenies  and  enter- 
ing the  Ohio  country.  It  was  only  a  question  of 
time,  and  a  short  time  at  that,  when  the  two  nations 
should  come  to  blows. 

"The  actual  beginning  of  hostilities  was  in  the 
year  1752,  when  the  French  burned  down  the  first 
trading  post  established  by  the  English  to  the  west 

76 


HOW  THE  FRENCH  LOST  ILLINOIS  77 

of  the  Alleghenies.  For  the  next  ten  years  things 
were  squally  for  the  colonists  and  Indians  alike. 
The  French  and  Indians  fought  side  by  side,  al- 
though the  red  men  were  sometimes  puzzled  as  to 
what  it  was  all  about.  As  one  chief  said,  when 
he  learned  that  the  fighting  was  to  decide  whether 
the  French  or  the  English  should  own  the  land: 
Where  lie  the  Indian  lands?  For  the  French  claim 
all  on  one  side  of  the  river,  and  the  English  all  on 
the  other!' 

"At  the  beginning  of  hostilities,  the  Governor  of 
Virginia  sent  a  young  surveyor,  George  Washington, 
to  report  on  the  activities  of  the  French  in  building 
forts  in  the  disputed  territory.  Washington  found 
the  situation  so  alarming,  that  steps  were  taken  at 
once  to  build  a  fort  on  the  Allegheny  River.  While 
it  was  being  built,  the  French  and  Indians  appeared 
in  force,  drove  the  English  away,  and  finished 
the  fort  themselves,  which  they  called  Fort 
Du  Quesne.1 

"Meanwhile,  the  French  commander  in  Illinois 
at  Fort  Chartres  began  to  prepare  for  the  war,  which 
he  saw  was  imminent.  He  had  the  log  bastions  of 
the  fort  removed  and  replaced  with  stone.  The  new 
walls  rose  eighteen  feet  high,  and  enclosed  a  tract 
of  four  acres.  Here  were  housed  ammunition  and 
supplies  of  all  kinds,  to  outfit  an  army  or  withstand 
a  siege.     It  was  said  to  be  one  of  the  strongest  forts 

1  Pronounced  "Du  Kane."  For  further  stories  see  "Pennsylvania"  and 
"Ohio"  in  this  series. 


78  ILLINOIS 

in  America.  And  these  two  I  have  mentioned  were 
only  a  sample  of  the  activity  of  the  French  in  all 
parts  of  the  New  World,  from  Quebec  as  far  south 
as  New  Orleans.  It  would  seem  to  have  been  im- 
possible for  the  English  to  win  against  them, 
especially  with  the  natives  lurking  in  every  thicket 
to  aid  the  French. 

"At  first,  in  fact,  the  English  fared  badly.  One 
of  their  first  and  bitterest  defeats  was  that  of  Brad- 
dock,  in  1755,  when  that  stubborn  British  officer 
tried  to  mass  his  troops  in  the  open,  instead  of  fight- 
ing Indian  fashion.  Here  it  was  that  the  young 
Virginia  officer,  Washington,  again  distinguished 
himself.  In  succeeding  years,  the  British  aided  by 
the  Americans  'found  themselves.'  One  by  one  the 
great  fortresses  in  the  East  fell,  until  at  last  Quebec 
itself  yielded  to  the  English  arms.  It  was  a  crush- 
ing blow  to  the  French  colonists,  as  well  as  to  the 
mother  country,  to  see  these  vast  possessions,  for 
which  they  had  toiled  for  two  centuries,  swept 
away. 

"As  the  war  had  been  waged  in  the  East  and  in 
Canada,  the  French  colonists  at  first  thought  that 
they  would  lose  only  Canada,  and  that  Louisiana  (or 
the  whole  central  territory)  would  be  left  to  them. 
Accordingly,  many  of  them  came  to  Fort  Chartres 
and  the  Illinois  country.  And  sore  was  their  grief 
to  learn  that  by  the  treaty  of  peace  signed  between 
France  and  England,  in  1763,  all  the  territory  lying 
to  the  east  of  the  Mississippi,  except  New  Orleans, 


French  and  Indians  Fought  Side  by  Side 


[See  page  77} 


UNIVERSHV  OF    ILLINOIS 


HOW  THE  FRENCH  LOST  ILLINOIS  81 

was  ceded  to  the  English.  This,  of  course,  included 
Illinois. 

"One  stumbling  block,  however,  remained  for  the 
English,  as  they  came  to  take  possession  of  the  forts 
to  the  west.  And  that  stumbling  block  was  a  fierce 
and  relentless  savage  warrior,  Pontiac.  He  was  one 
of  the  ablest  leaders  of  his  time,  and  called  himself 
king.  He  gathered  around  him  many  tribes,  which 
he  ruled  by  fear.  Now  he  appeared  in  the  Illinois 
country,  ordering  all  the  tribes  here  to  join  him  in 
a  war  of  extermination  against  the  English.  When 
they  hesitated,  he  said :  'Hold  not  back,  lest  I 
destroy  you  as  fire  does  the  prairie  grass.  Listen 
and  give  heed,  that  these  are  the  words  of  Pontiac!' 

"The  exploits  of  this  chief  form  a  story  in  them- 
selves, which  at  some  other  time  I  may  tell  you.1 
Pontiac  marched  east,  and  by  cunning  and 
treachery  surprised  one  English  fort  after  another, 
cruelly  butchering  the  inmates.  A  separate  treaty 
of  peace  had  to  be  negotiated  with  the  Indians,  in 
1764,  but  Pontiac  still  held  out.  He  returned  to 
Fort  Chartres  and  reported  to  its  French  com- 
mander, St.  Ange:  'Father,  I  have  long  wished  to 
see  you,  to  recall  the  battles  which  we  fought  to- 
gether against  the  misguided  Indians  and  the  Eng- 
lish dogs.  I  love  the  French,  and  have  come  here 
with  my  warriors  to  avenge  their  wrongs.'  But  the 
French  commander  bade  him  put  away  his  weapons, 

1  See  "Michigan,  a  Romantic  Story  for  Young  People." 


82  ILLINOIS 

and  learn  to  live  in  peace  with  the  English,  as  the 
French  were  doing.  Pontiac,  however,  still  hated 
the  English,  even  while  openly  professing  friendship 
with  them.  He  plotted  more  treachery,  and  tried  to 
enlist  the  Illinois  in  a  new  war.  He  continued  active 
till  a  Kaskaskia  Indian,  who  was  a  true  friend  of  the 
English,  surprised  his  plot  and  slew  Pontiac  by  driv- 
ing a  knife  into  his  heart. 

"As  soon  as  the  English  took  over  Fort  Chartres 
and  the  other  French  towns,  their  commander, 
Captain  Sterling,  made  haste  to  reassure  the  settlers 
as  to  the  peaceful  intentions  of  his  king.  'His 
Majesty' — so  ran  the  proclamation — 'grants  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Illinois  the  liberty  of  the  Catholic 
religion,  as  it  has  already  been  granted  to  his  subjects 
in  Canada.'  And  the  decree  went  on  to  say  that 
if  any  did  not  wish  to  live  here  under  the  English 
government,  they  might  'retire  in  full  safety  and 
freedom  wherever  they  please,  even  to  New  Orleans, 
or  any  other  part  of  Louisiana.'  Further  it  was  pro- 
claimed :  'That  those  who  choose  to  retain  their 
lands  and  become  subjects  of  his  Majesty,  shall  en- 
joy the  same  rights  and  privileges,  the  same  se- 
curity for  their  persons  and  effects,  and  the  lib- 
erty of  trade,  as  the  old  subjects  of  the  King  (of 
France).' 

"Many  French  families,  wishing  to  remain  under 
the  lilies  of  France,  did  embark  their  possessions  on 
boats  and  go  south  to  New  Orleans.  But  in  their 
stead  other  settlers  of  English  stock  came  in,  so  that 


HOW  THE  FRENCH  LOST  ILLINOIS    83 

the  population  of  Illinois  showed  little  change  as 
to  numbers  for  some  years." 

Uncle  John  paused,  and  the  little  group  was  silent 
for  a  minute  or  two.  Then  he  noticed  that  Edna 
sat  with  a  puzzled  line  on  her  brow. 

"What  is  it,  youngster?"  he  asked. 

aWhy — Pm  still  thinking  about  the  Indians,"  she 
confessed.  "I  know  that  Pontiac  was  a  cruel  savage; 
but  it  doesn't  seem  right  that  the  French  and  English 
between  them  should  take  all  their  land  away — just 
like  that  old  chief  said!" 

"Wait  a  minute,"  said  Uncle  John.  When  he  re- 
turned, he  brought  his  little  book  with  him,  and  put 
a  piece  of  dry  wood  on  the  fire,  so  that  it  blazed  up 
brightly. 

"Here  is  another  old  paper,  which  answers  your 
question,"  he  said.  "The  English  themselves  found 
that  if  they  wished  to  remain  on  friendly  terms  with 
the  Indians,  they  must  respect  their  rights.  This 
proclamation  is  dated  the  7th  day  of  October,  1763, 
and  in  it  the  English  king  declared  that  no  governor 
or  other  commander  should  issue  grants  to  'any  lands 
whatever  which,  not  having  been  ceded  to  or  pur- 
chased by  us,  are  reserved  by  the  Indians.'  The 
document  goes  on  to  defend  the  Indians  from 
further  frauds  or  abuses,  and  says  that  'if  at  any  time 
any  of  the  Indians  should  be  inclined  to  dispose  of 
the  said  lands,  the  same  shall  be  purchased  for  us 
only  in  our  name,  at  some  public  meeting  or  as- 
sembly of  the  said  Indians.' 


84  ILLINOIS 

uThis  proclamation/'  said  Uncle  John,  laying 
down  his  book,  "did  much  to  allay  the  distrust  of 
the  Indians;  and  when  they  found  later  that  they 
could  trade  as  freely  with  the  English  as  with  the 
French,  they  became  more  reconciled  to  the  change. 
But  the  English  never  quite  understood  them  as  well 
as  the  French  who  had  lived  with  them  on  equal 
terms." 


CHAPTER  VI 

GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK  HAULS  DOWN 
THE  BRITISH  FLAG 

THE  people  of  Illinois  saw  very  little  of  the 
English  soldiers,   or  of   English   rule,"  con- 
tinued  Uncle  John.     "As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the   Union  Jack   flew  over   this   country   for   only 
thirteen    years.      It   was    an    unlucky    thirteen    for 
them. 

"You  see,  they  did  not  come  in  and  take  formal 
possession  until  1765 — only  ten  years  before  the 
Revolution  broke  out — and  those  ten  years  were  a 
time  of  restlessness  on  both  sides.  England  wanted 
to  make  peace  with  the  old  French  element,  as  we 
have  just  seen,  and  she  wanted  to  attract  other  Eng- 
lish and  American  settlers,  too.  But  the  trouble  was, 
she  wanted  to  do  things  in  her  own  way,  and  govern 
from  across  the  sea,  and  this  the  liberty-loving 
people  did  not  like.  Some  of  them  petitioned  for 
a  charter  like  that  of  Connecticut,  which  would 
allow  them  to  have  their  own  courts  and  local 
magistrates;  but  their  petition  was  refused.  Instead, 
a  military  form  of  government  was  set  up  which 
pleased  nobody,  not  even  the  London  ministers,  and 

85 


86  ILLINOIS 

three  or  four  officers  ruled  in  succession,  with  varied 
success. 

"In  1772  the  much-boasted  stronghold  of  Fort 
Chartres  had  to  be  abandoned.  A  secret  enemy  had 
been  at  work  and  undermined  its  walls — this  enemy 
being  the  Father  of  Waters  himself.  As  the  mighty 
current  of  the  river  swept  around,  it  had  gradually 
cut  away  the  bank,  until  the  great  sixteen-foot  walls 
threatened  to  tumble  in,  and  did  do  so  later.  So  the 
English  garrison  and  officials  were  transferred  in- 
land to  Kaskaskia,  which  thus  became  the  colonial 
capital." 

"We  went  down  to  old  Fort  Chartres,  last  sum- 
mer," said  Howard  at  this  point. 

"Yes,"  said  his  Uncle.  "It  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  our  colonial  landmarks.  The  State 
has  made  a  Park  of  it,  and  is  preserving  parts  of  the 
old  walls." 

"The  old  powder  magazine  is  still  there,  and 
bits  of  the  old  ruins,"  added  Howard.  "I  just 
wish  I'd  known  more  about  it  then.  I'm  going 
again!" 

"So  am  I,"  put  in  Edna.  "And  wasn't  there 
another  old  fort  down  in  the  southern  border  of  the 
State?" 

"Yes,  I  am  glad  you  brought  it  up.  Away  back 
in  1711,  the  French  had  built  a  small  fort  and  mis- 
sion on  the  Ohio  River,  about  forty  miles  up  from 
the  Mississippi  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee. 
It  met  a  tragic  fate,  as  its  first  garrison  was  decoyed 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


87 


George   Rogers    Clark 

by  savages  over  into  Kentucky,  and  massacred.  The 
fort  was  then  burned.  Some  years  later  it  was  re- 
built, and  called  Fort  Massacre.  This  in  later  years 
became  shortened  to  Fort  Massac.  Its  site  is  also  a 
State  Park  to-day,  but  the  fort  has  long  since 
vanished.  Fort  Massac  figures  in  a  gallant  expedi- 
tion that  I  am  going  to  tell  you  about  to-night.  But 
first  I  must  tell  you  what  led  up  to  it. 

'With  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  the  scat- 
tered settlements  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  in  what  is 
now  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  and  Illinois,  suffered 
a  great  deal  from  Indian  raids.  The  French  had  no 
hand  in  it,  as  they  were  now  at  peace  with  the  Eng- 
lish; but  the  English  officers  armed  and  equipped 
countless  bands  of  savages  who  made  war  on  the 


88  ILLINOIS 

frontier.  Down  in  Kentucky  the  gallant  Daniel 
Boone  was  having  his  troubles.  The  little  settlement 
of  Boonesborough  was  encircled  by  Indians,  and  so 
constant  were  their  attacks  that  no  corn  could  be 
cultivated  outside  the  stockade,  and  their  livestock 
were  driven  off.  The  garrison  ran  short  of  food, 
and  when  their  hunters,  led  by  Boone,  went  out  after 
meat,  they  were  surprised  and  captured  by  a  greatly 
superior  force  of  Indians,  all  well  armed  with  Eng- 
lish guns,  and  wearing  English  blankets.  These 
supplies  were  obtained  from  the  old  French  posts 
of  Detroit,  Vincennes,  and  Kaskaskia,  which  formed 
a  sort  of  barrier  against  all  the  Americans  in  the 
Northwest. 

"One  man  of  vision  and  courage  saw  this,  and 
realized  that  the  British  hold  on  all  this  vast  stretch 
of  country  could  only  be  loosened  by  the  capture  of 
these  forts.  That  man  was  George  Rogers  Clark,  a 
Virginian  by  birth,  but  a  man  whose  name  will 
always  be  linked  with  our  own  State,  and  the  North- 
west. Clark  was  then  a  young  man,  only  twenty- 
five,  but  had  already  risen  to  be  a  colonel  in  the 
Colonial  troops.  He  now  went  to  the  Governor  of 
Virginia  to  ask  men  and  money  for  an  expedition 
into  the  West.    The  Governor,  Patrick  Henry " 

"  'Give  me  liberty  or  death!'"  murmured 
Howard. 

"The  same,"  said  Uncle  John,  smiling.  "Governor 
Henry  saw  at  once  the  importance  of  the  scheme, 
and  lost  no  time  in  consulting  with  Thomas  Jef- 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


89 


ferson  and  other  patriots.  The  Virginia  legislature 
granted  Clark  some  money,  guns  and  ammunition, 
but  specified  that  he  must  recruit  his  forces  from  the 
frontier,  as  they  needed  all  the  Virginia  troops  to 
help  Washington  at  home.  As  an  inducement  to 
his  men,  Clark  was  told  that  each  one  of  them 
would  be  granted  three  hundred  acres  of  land — 
provided  they  could  take  it  away  from  King 
George ! 

"The  plan  and  purpose  of  the  expedition  were 
kept  a  secret,  even  from  the  men  who  enlisted  with 
Clark.    He  merely  told  them,  at  first,  that  they  were 


f— Ts  / 


Down  the  Current  Swirled  the  Four  Clumsy  Flatboats 


90  ILLINOIS 

going  to  rescue  Boone,  and  defend  the  Kentucky 
borders.  This  was  to  prevent  any  news  from  leaking 
out  to  the  enemy  through  spies.  The  little  expedi- 
tion was  finally  assembled  at  Fort  Pitt,  and  went  by 
boat  down  the  Ohio  River  to  Corn  Island,  opposite 
the  site  of  Louisville.  This  island  was  thickly 
wooded  and  at  the  falls  of  the  river.  The  current 
was  swift,  and  the  island  was,  therefore,  not  easily 
reached  or  surprised.  Here  Clark  made  his  final 
plans,  and  at  last  took  his  men  into  his  confidence. 
He  had  sent  scouts  ahead  of  him,  such  as  Simon 
Kenton,  who  got  a  few  recruits  and  reported  on  the 
prospects  ahead.  They  said  that  Kaskaskia  did  not 
have  a  large  force,  and  could  be  easily  surprised, 
if  a  swift  and  secret  attack  was  made. 

"As  soon  as  Clark  told  his  men  the  real  object  of 
the  expedition,  some  of  them  refused  to  continue. 
They  said  it  was  foolhardy  to  try  to  take  British 
forts  with  a  handful  of  men,  while  the  woods 
swarmed  with  savages.  A  few  deserted,  so  that  the 
whole  force  when  ready  to  make  the  final  dash 
numbered  only  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men. 
They  had  four  flatboats  to  convey  them  further 
downstream,  and  the  two  scouts,  Simon  Kenton  and 
John  Haggin,  were  chosen  to  lead  the  way,  as  they 
were  familiar  with  the  country.  Each  frontiers- 
man had  a  rifle,  a  knife,  and  a  hatchet,  also  a 
powder-horn,  blanket,  and  a  kit  with  dried  corn  or 
venison.     It  was  midsummer,  of   1778,  and  scouts 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK     91 

were  sent  ahead  to  warn  of  lurking  savages  and  get 
game.  The  little  army  was  literally  living  from 
hand  to  mouth. 

"Old  Fort  Massac  had  been  decided  upon  as  the 
end  of  the  journey  by  water,  and  they  lost  no  time 
in  embarking.  Clark  knew  that  to  leave  the  river 
at  that  point  meant  a  long  overland  march,  but  he 
did  not  dare  approach  nearer  to  Kaskaskia  in  so 
open  a  manner. 

"Down  the  current  swirled  the  four  clumsy  flat- 
boats,  tossed  about  like  chips  in  places,  and  threaten- 
ing to  pile  up  on  jutting  rocks.  But  stout  and  skillful 
arms  manned  the  oars,  and  soon  quieter  waters  were 
reached.  Fort  Massac  was  reached  without  mishap. 
It  presented  a  desolate  appearance,  even  on  that 
bright  Summer  day.  Only  a  few  logs  remained  in 
place  in  the  stockade,  and  there  were  a  half-dozen 
tumbledown  huts.  But  Clark  did  not  intend  to  stop 
here;  he  must  press  on,  before  any  lurking  Indians 
should  get  wind  of  his  real  intentions  and  spread  the 
alarm. 

"He  had  given  orders  for  his  advance  scouts  to 
join  him  here,  and  they  came  in  that  evening,  with 
word  that  all  was  quiet.  The  other  men  were  highly 
delighted,  also,  to  see  that  every  scout  was  loaded 
down  with  turkeys  and  other  game.  They  had  a 
royal  feast  there  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio.  The  next 
morning  their  boats  were  taken  out  into  the  river 
and  sunk.  This  was  their  leader's  way  of  'burning 
his  bridges  behind  him.'     Their  road  led  forward 


92  ILLINOIS 

and  not  back — straight  ahead  into  the  wilderness. 

"Between  them  and  Kaskaskia  lay  some  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miles  of  wild  country,  marked  by 
the  faintest  of  trails.  It  required  keen-eyed  scouts 
indeed  to  lead  the  way.  The  little  army,  however, 
traveled  lightly  and  were  able  to  make  twenty  miles 
a  day.  They  had  no  horses,  no  wagons,  no  baggage 
except  the  barest  necessities  such  as  each  man  car- 
ried. But  they  were  a  picked  lot  of  sturdy,  self- 
reliant  men  for  whom  such  a  forced  march  held  no 
terrors. 

"On  the  third  day,  the  veteran  scout  who  led  the 
way  turned  around  with  troubled  face.  'Thar  ought 
to  be  an  Injen  trail  somers  round  hyar,  but  I 
can't  seem  to  locate  it,'  he  confessed.  At  once 
murmurs  came  from  the  men  behind  him.  'He's 
a  spy!'  they  said;  'He's  leading  us  astray.  Shoot 
him!' 

"But  Clark  was  master  of  the  situation.  'Talk  is 
cheap,'  he  said,  while  his  keen  blue  eyes  looked  up 
and  down  the  line.  'Give  him  time,  and  if  he  goes 
wrong,  he's  my  meat!'  And  his  eye  glanced  signifi- 
cantly down  on  his  long  rifle.  It  was  the  rough  talk 
of  the  frontier  that  all  could  understand.  The  mut- 
terings  ceased,  and  after  some  search  the  trail  was 
found. 

"On  the  evening  of  the  4th  of  July — our  glorious 
4th — the  patriot  army  halted  only  three  miles  away 
from  the  unsuspecting  fort.  It  was  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river,  but  a  farmer  whom  they  surprised 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK 


93 


proved  to  be  friendly  and  more  than  willing  to  take 
them  across  the  stream  in  his  boat  and  show  them  a 
path  into  the  settlement. 

"  'It  won't  be  hard  to  get  in,'  he  told  Colonel 
Clark.  'The  fort's  in  charge  of  a  French  officer,  De 
Rocheblave,  who  has  only  a  small  force.  Most  of 
the  regulars  from  round  here  have  been  sent  back 
East  to  fight.  De  Rocheblave  has  been  asking  for 
more  men,  but  he  hasn't  got  'em.  The  British  will 
be  a  surprised  outfit  at  this  attack:  they  never 
thought  to  see  the  day  when  an  American  force  got 
this  far  west!' 

"The  farmer  proved  to  be  telling  the  truth.    After 


Every  Scout  Loaded  Down  with  Game 


94  ILLINOIS 

it  had  grown  dark,  the  boat  made  several  trips  back 
and  forth  across  the  small  river,  and  soon  had  the 
men  in  line  just  outside  the  stockade.  What  was 
their  delight  to  find  that  the  big  gate  was  wide  open! 
The  garrison  felt  so  secure  that  they  had  not  even 
taken  the  trouble  to  close  it.  Very  quietly  Clark 
led  his  men  in,  and  posted  them  completely  around 
the  houses  of  the  little  settlement.  The  fort  itself 
was  protected  by  an  inner  stockade,  and  thither  he 
went  with  a  small  picked  body  of  men.  Each  man 
followed  in  the  other's  steps,  Indian  file,  and  walked 
like  cats,  so  that  not  so  much  as  a  loose  pebble  should 
betray  them.  A  light  shone  through  the  open  door, 
and  as  they  neared  it,  the  scraping  of  a  fiddle  was 
heard.    A  dance  was  in  progress. 

"Clark  and  his  men  crept  up,  keeping  out  of  the 
shaft  of  light  by  going  around  to  the  rear  of  the  inner 
stockade  and  climbing  through  a  loose  spot  in  the 
pickets.  Then  Clark  did  an  audacious  thing.  He 
stepped  into  the  doorway,  and  stood  with  folded 
arms  looking  at  the  assembly.  At  first  he  passed  un- 
noticed; then  a  terrific  whoop  from  a  keen-eyed 
Indian,  who  saw  his  American  uniform  of  buff  and 
blue,  caused  every  eye  to  be  riveted  on  his  alert 
form.  The  women  uttered  little  shrieks,  while  the 
men  sprang  for  their  weapons.  Colonel  Clark  raised 
his  hand. 

"  'The  place  is  surrounded  by  American  troops,' 
he  said  quietly.  'Do  not  attempt  to  resist.  On  with 
the  dance — but  remember,  you  are  dancing  in  honor 


GEORGE  ROGERS  CLARK     95 

of  Virginia  and  the  Continental  Congress,  and  not 
for  King  George!' 

"Thus  was  Kaskaskia  captured  without  the  firing 
of  a  shot.  The  English,  French,  and  Indians,  hav- 
ing no  idea  of  the  size  of  the  opposing  force,  were 
led  into  the  parade  ground  and  disarmed.  De 
Rocheblave,  the  commander,  was  in  bed,  and  was  a 
much  astonished  officer  when  he  learned  that  his  fort 
was  captured  and  himself  a  prisoner.  The  people 
were  huddled  in  their  homes,  and  told  they  would 
not  be  molested  if  they  kept  the  peace.  Nevertheless, 
it  was  a  terrified  town  that  greeted  the  next  morrow's 
sun.  Most  of  them  were  French  settlers,  and  the 
British,  in  order  to  keep  their  hold  upon  them,  had 
filled  their  ears  full  of  terrible  tales  concerning  the 
brutality  and  savagery  of  the  'Long  Knives,'  as  the 
Americans  were  called.  It  was  said  that  they  killed 
just  for  the  love  of  killing;  and  that  their  favorite 
sport  was  to  cut  off  ears  and  slit  noses. 

"A  group  of  men  headed  by  the  priest  waited 
upon  Colonel  Clark,  as  soon  as  he  was  abroad,  and 
held  out  their  hands  in  supplication.  'Spare  our 
lives,  great  Chief  of  the  Long  Knives!'  they  said. 
'We  will  work  for  you,  but  do  not  separate  our 
families,  or  injure  our  women  and  children!' 

"  'Who  speaks  of  injury  or  killing?'  asked  Clark, 
his  eyes  flashing.  'Americans  are  not  savages.  We 
have  merely  come  to  set  you  free  from  the  British 
yoke.    Henceforth  we  are  all  freemen  and  brothers.' 

"The   settlers   could   hardly  believe   their   ears, 


96  ILLINOIS 

especially  when  they  saw  most  of  the  men  under 
guard,  or  in  chains.  But  they  were  told  that  these 
also  would  be  set  at  liberty  as  soon  as  details  of 
taking  over  the  town  were  effected.  Another  source 
of  amazement  was  the  small  size  of  the  invading 
force;  the  villagers  could  not  believe  but  that  a 
much  larger  force  lay  somewhere  just  outside. 

"As  soon  as  they  were  convinced  that  no  harm  was 
intended  them,  and  that  they  could  keep  their  homes, 
and  worship  as  before  in  their  little  chapel,  their 
joy  knew  no  bounds.  Te  Deums  were  sung  and  the 
Americans  were  showered  with  little  gifts.  And  in 
this  signal  fashion,  the  British  flag  was  hauled  down 
from  this  important  Western  post,  never  to  fly  there 
again." 

Uncle  John  paused  and  lighted  his  faithful  pipe. 
In  the  silence  he  was  not  surprised  to  hear  a  deep 
sigh  from  his  young  nephew. 

"Seems  like  a  lot  of  things  happened  round  here, 
that  some  of  us  missed!"  that  person  said. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY 

I  WISH  I  had  time  to  tell  you,"  continued  Uncle 
John  on  the  next  evening,  "of  the  various  ad- 
ventures of  George  Rogers  Clark.  But  our  stay 
here  at  camp  is  almost  over,  and  before  we  go  back 
home  I  want  to  finish  this  tale  of  early  days. 
With  the  help  of  the  French,  Clark  seized  both 
Cahokia  and  Vincennes.  *  His  chief  difficulty  was 
in  making  allies  of  the  Indians.  We  can  understand 
their  suspicion  and  hesitancy.  First  had  come  the 
French,  then  the  British,  and  now  these  Long  Knives 
whom  they  had  been  taught  all  their  lives  to  hate. 
"But  fortunately  Colonel  Clark  knew  the  Indians 
and  how  to  handle  them.  He  called  them  together 
in  a  great  council  in  Cahokia,  and  there,  instead  of 
seeming  eager  to  win  their  friendship,  he  made 
them  make  all  the  advances.  'I  come  to  bring  you 
peace  and  security,'  he  told  them,  'but  you  must 
prove  yourselves  worthy  of  it.  What  have  you  to 
say?' 

"The  powwow  lasted  all  day,  Clark  purposely 
maintaining  a  distant  and  reserved  manner.  Then 
a  dramatic  thing  occurred,  which  I  must  stop  to  tell 

1  See  "Indiana,  a  Romantic  Story  for  Young  People,"  in  this  series. 

97 


98  ILLINOIS 

you  about.  One  of  the  jealous  chiefs  tried  to  kill 
Colonel  Clark  during  the  night,  but  was  surprised 
and  captured.  The  next  day  the  savage  was  brought 
before  the  commander,  tied  with  thongs.  Clark 
drew  out  his  long  knife,  but  instead  of  killing  the 
chief  he  cut  his  bonds  and  set  him  free.  'Go!'  he 
said  with  contempt  in  his  voice.  We  come  to  you  as 
men;  we  do  not  make  war  on  squaws!'  That  cut 
the  Indian  pride  to  the  quick.  They  held  further 
council,  and  presented  him  with  the  calumet,  or 
peace  pipe.  With  a  sweep  of  his  knife  he  cut  this 
also  in  two,  and  the  pieces  fell  at  the  feet  of  the  dis- 
mayed savages.  This  must  be  a  great  chief,  indeed, 
they  thought;  and  they  pleaded  with  him  to  smoke 
the  pipe  of  peace  with  them,  and  conclude  a  treaty. 
This,  after  some  further  harangue,  was  done,  and  for 
some  years  the  Indians  gave  no  further  trouble. 

"When  Patrick  Henry  and  the  Virginia  legis- 
lature heard  of  Clark's  brilliant  success,  they  gave 
him  a  vote  of  thanks,  and  made  of  the  Illinois 
country  a  county  of  Virginia.  In  some  of  the  early 
maps  you  will  see  Virginia  extending  clear  across 
the  mountains  and  plains  as  far  as  the  Mississippi 
River.  This  was  because  of  the  conquest  by  Clark. 
They  made  him  the  captain  of  militia  for  the 
country,  and  appointed  a  Colonel  John  Todd  to  act 
as  lieutenant  governor. 

"But  the  other  Eastern  States  were  jealous  of  this 
claim  of  Virginia  to  so  vast  a  tract  of  territory.  New 
York  claimed  some  of  it,  by  virtue  of  a  treaty  with 


ftyk 


% 


"Go!"  He  Said,  with  Contempt  in  His  Voice 


[See   page   98] 


LIBRARY 
[HE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY     101 

the  Iroquois;  and  both  Massachusetts  and  Connecti- 
cut extended  their  maps  far  to  the  west  to  take  in 
strips  of  land.  At  the  end  of  the  Revolution  the 
whole  question  of  ownership  was  badly  tangled,  and 
the  Federal  Government  of  the  new  United  States 
urged  the  separate  States  to  abandon  their  claims  to 
the  western  country.  After  some  debate  this  was 
agreed  to,  and  at  the  end  of  1783  Virginia  ceded  her 
lands  to  the  Union,  on  condition  that  the  expenses 
of  the  Clark  expedition  be  repaid,  that  the  titles  of 
land  to  the  settlers  be  confirmed,  and  150,000  acres  of 
land  given  to  Clark  and  his  men.    This  was  done. 

"Four  years  later  our  national  Congress  created 
the  'Northwest  Territory'  of  all  the  country  now  em- 
braced by  half  a  dozen  States,  including  Illinois, 
By  the  Enabling  Act  of  1787,  known  as  the  North- 
west Ordinance,  the  President  was  empowered  to  ap- 
point a  governor  and  three  judges  to  serve  until  there 
were  at  least  five  thousand  white  men  in  the  Terri- 
tory, when  an  assembly  could  be  chosen  by  vote  of 
the  people.  The  Ordinance  also  guaranteed  freedom 
of  every  sort  to  every  law-abiding  person,  including 
the  rights  to  hold  land  and  to  worship  God  as  he 
wished.  It  further  prohibited  the  holding  of  slaves. 
Daniel  Webster  said  of  this  wise  and  foreseeing 
law:  'I  doubt  whether  one  single  law,  ancient  or 
modern,  has  produced  effects  of  more  distinct  and 
lasting  character.' 

"Our  first  President,  Washington,  appointed 
General  Arthur  St.   Clair  as  territorial  governor, 


102  ILLINOIS 

and  the  latter  made  his  first  visit  to  Illinois  in  1790. 
He  found  the  country  very  unsettled  as  to  govern- 
ment. In  the  frequent  disputes  and  changes,  every 
man  had  become  almost  a  law  unto  himself.  The 
southern  part  was  organized  into  a  county  called 
in  his  honor,  St.  Clair  County,  with  Cahokia  as  the 
county  seat.  A  court  was  established,  but  it  was 
found  difficult  to  get  officers  or  jury  for  it,  as  not 
one  man  in  fifty  could  read  or  write.  Please  don't 
forget  that,  up  to  this  time,  there  had  been  no  schools 
of  any  sort,  except  for  a  little  teaching  in  the  mis- 


sions." 


"What  a  glorious  country!"  came  a  voice  from 
the  other  side  of  the  campfire.  Howard  was  just  re- 
calling the  fact  that  his  own  school  began  in  the  next 
four  days. 

There  was  a  general  laugh  at  this,  but  Uncle  John 
went  on : 

"I  don't  know  whether  you  will  think  it  a  glorious 
country  or  not,  when  you  hear  about  events  of  the 
years  that  followed ;  for  they  were  years  of  hardship 
and  danger  to  the  settlers.  As  soon  as  the  North- 
west Territory  was  thrown  open,  more  and  more  ad- 
venturous men  began  to  come  over  the  Alleghenies 
and  down  the  Ohio  River,  bringing  their  families 
with  them,  and  taking  up  claims.  The  Indians  grew 
exceedingly  restless  as  they  saw  more  and  more  of 
their  favorite  hunting  grounds  being  cut  up  into 
farms.  Some  of  the  tribes,  such  as  the  Kickapoos  and 
Pottawatomies,  had  always  been  troublesome,  and 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY     103 

low  they  incited  others  to  join  them  and  drive  the 
paleface  out  of  the  country.  A  guerilla  warfare 
was  begun,  in  which  the  savages  in  small  bands 
began  attacking  outlying  cabins  and  even  settle- 
ments. 

"It  was  a  dark  and  perilous  time  indeed  for  the 
new  country.  The  settlers  found  that  if  they  could 
till  their  lands  at  all,  one  man  had  to  be  kept  con- 
stantly on  watch,  while  all  the  others  kept  their  guns 
in  easy  reach.  For  further  protection,  they  built 
block-houses — sometimes  one  at  a  corner  where  three 
or  four  farms  touched  each  other — sometimes  two  or 
three  houses  close  together.  They  were  built  of  logs 
with  the  cracks  well  chinked,  and  with  heavily 
barred  windows  and  doors,  and  loopholes  for 
muskets.  A  larger  house  was  of  two  stories,  with 
the  upper  story  projecting  out  over  the  lower  and 
with  loopholes  in  its  floor,  so  that  when  the  defenders 
had  to  retreat  upstairs  they  could  fire  down  upon 
anyone  trying  to  break  into  the  lower  part. 

"Sometimes  a  good-sized  clearing  would  be  com- 
pletely guarded  by  a  high  fence,  or  palisade,  the  tops 
of  the  timbers  being  well  sharpened.  The  block- 
houses would  then  be  built  at  the  four  corners,  and 
a  keen  lookout  kept,  to  prevent  the  Indians  from 
creeping  up  and  using  the  fence  as  a  screen  for  their 
own  attack.  But  farming  under  such  conditions  was 
both  difficult  and  dangerous.  The  Indians  grew 
bolder  and  bolder,  until  by  the  year  1790  it  was  said, 
in  a  report  to  Congress,  that  fifteen  hundred  white 


104  ILLINOIS 

men,  women,  and  children  had  been  killed  or 
carried  into  captivity. 

"Of  course,  these  figures,  while  large,  included  a 
much  greater  section  of  the  country  than  Illinois 
alone.  General  St.  Clair,  who  was  a  veteran  of  the 
Revolution,  tried  to  put  a  stop  to  these  depredations 
by  an  open  campaign  against  the  Indians.  But  he 
was  getting  old  and  infirm,  and  besides  had  never 
proved  a  popular  commander.  He  recruited  an 
army  of  about  two  thousand,  but  sickness  and  de- 
sertion reduced  the  number  considerably.  Although 
he  himself  was  suffering  from  gout,  he  bravely 
went  into  the  field,  in  the  Fall  of  1791,  against 
Little  Turtle,  a  warrior  who  had  won  a  vic- 
tory over  the  Americans  in  Indiana,  the  year  be- 
fore. 

"By  the  4th  of  November,  St.  Clair  had  marched 
as  far  as  a  small  stream  which  flowed  into  the 
Wabash,  without  encountering  serious  opposition. 
He  encamped  for  the  night,  and  posted  pickets.  But 
in  the  early  dawn  a  shot  of  alarm  was  fired  by  some 
sentry,  followed  immediately  from  all  sides  by 
scattered  shots.  Little  Turtle  had  surrounded  the 
camp,  and  was  pouring  a  deadly  fire  in  upon  the 
half-roused  men,  from  every  tree  and  thicket.  The 
fight  became  a  complete  rout  for  the  Americans — 
as  bad  as  the  famous  defeat  of  the  British  general, 
Braddock.  It  is  said  that  six  hundred  were  killed 
or  wounded.  The  Indians  pursued  the  retreating 
Americans  about  four  miles,  and  the  remnant  of  the 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY     105 


old  Generals  army  reached  Fort  Jefferson  by  night- 
fall, about  twenty-nine  miles  away. 

"The  overwhelming  victory  on  the  part  of  the 
Indians  made  them  all  the  more  to  be  dreaded.  The 
whole  country  was  in  terror.  President  Washington 
saw  that  the  Indian  question  must  be  settled  once  for 
all.  He  sent  commissioners  to  treat  with  them, 
and  to  promise  to  buy  all  lands  claimed  by  the 
Indians.  The  Indians  retorted  that  they  owned  all 
the  lands  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  that  these 
must  be  left  for  open  hunting  grounds  forever. 
The  white  men  must  give  up  all  claims  to  this  land, 
or  fight. 


/^A       4\W 


One  Man  Had  to  Keep  Constantly  on  Watch 


106  ILLINOIS 

"The  answer  to  this  defiance  was  the  appointment 
of  'Mad  Anthony'  Wayne,  to  head  the  white  forces. 
He  marched  into  the  Indian  country  and  built  a 
fort  on  the  spot  where  St.  Clair  had  been  defeated, 
which  was  called  'Fort  Recovery.'  Here,  on  June 
30,  1794,  he  was  attacked  by  Little  Turtle  with  a 
large  force  of  warriors,  some  fifteen  hundred,  it  is 
said;  but  this  time  the  Americans  were  ready  for 
them.  The  fight  lasted  for  two  days  without  decisive 
result,  then  the  Indians  withdrew.  The  next  month 
General  Wayne  received  a  large  reinforcement  of 
volunteers  from  Kentucky,  and  decided  to  march 
out  to  meet  the  redskins.  A  pitched  battle  was 
fought  and  the  Indians  were  defeated  and  scattered. 
General  Wayne  followed  up  his  advantage  by  burn- 
ing villages  and  cornfields  on  both  sides  of  the 
Miami  for  fifty  miles.  The  Indians  seeing  them- 
selves in  danger  of  starvation  sued  for  peace,  which 
was  concluded  by  a  formal  treaty  at  Greenville,  in 
August,  1795.  This  treaty  the  Indians  faithfully 
observed  until  1811. 

"While  most  of  this  Indian  war  had  been  fought 
outside  the  borders  of  Illinois,  its  outcome  was  of 
the  highest  importance  to  all.  Peace  having  been 
established,  other  settlers  came  joyfully  into  the 
country.  The  prairies  lent  themselves  to  easy  culti- 
vation, as  there  were  few  trees  to  be  cleared  away. 
Great  farms  began  to  spring  up  on  every  side,  and 
many  a  little  village  grew  up  around  the  crossroads 
store.     By  the  close  of  the  century  the  new  country 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY     107 

had  more  than  the  required  number  of  voters — five 
thousand — and  held  its  first  general  election. 

"Congress  soon  saw,  however,  that  the  Northwest 
Territory  was  too  great  to  be  governed  well  by  one 
assembly.  So  in  May,  1800,  an  act  was  passed 
dividing  it  into  two  parts,  the  western  part  being 
called  'Indiana'  from  the  Indians,  and  including 
what  is  now  Illinois,  Indiana,  part  of  Michigan,  and 
the  land  to  the  west  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota. 
The  capital  was  Vincennes,  and  the  first  territorial 
governor  was  General  William  Henry  Harrison.'' 

"Was  that  the  general  called  'Tippecanoe',  who 
was  afterwards  elected  President?"  asked  Edna. 

"The  same,  although  his  story  belongs  rather  to 
Indiana,  than  to  Illinois,"  answered  Uncle  John. 
"He  tried  to  keep  peace  with  the  Indians,  and  made 
so  many  treaties  with  them,  that  he  was  called  'the 
great  treaty  maker.'  But  so  many  of  the  Indians 
sold  their  lands  through  treaty,  that  other  tribes 
once  more  grew  restless.  Another  great  leader  arose 
in  Tecumseh,  and  in  1811  open  war  broke  out. 
General  Harrison  raised  an  army,  marched  against 
them,  and  won  a  great  victory  at  Tippecanoe.1  This 
marked  the  end  of  the  struggle  for  the  redmen. 
Henceforth  they  realized  that  they  must  seek  their 
hunting  grounds  further  to  the  west.  A  stronger 
race  had  come  in  to  stay.  But  in  Illinois  a  final  body 
chapter  was  to  be  written  in  our  story — as  you  shall 
see." 

1  See  "Indiana,  a  Romantic  Story  for  Young  People,"  in  this  series. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  FORT  DEARBORN  MASSACRE 

AND  now  we  come  to  one  story  of  our  State 
I  do  not  like  to  tell,"  declared  Uncle  John, 
the  next  day  when  the  campfire  sessions  were 
resumed.  "But  it  is  necessary  to  tell  it,  both  in  order 
to  show  you  some  of  the  perils  of  pioneer  life,  and 
also  because  it  is  connected  with  the  early  days  of 
our  greatest  Western  city,  Chicago. 

"In  the  first  years  of  settlement  that  we  have  been 
talking  about  this  week,  there  was  no  town  of  this 
name  at  the  foot  of  the  Chicago  River.  The  name, 
Chicago,  is  Indian  and  was  borne  by  a  long  line  of 
chiefs.  The  mouth  of  this  stream,  which  led  inland 
and  by  portage  to  the  Illinois,  had  from  earliest 
times  been  a  favorite  trading  spot  for  the  French 
and  the  Indians,  and  when  the  English  came  in  con- 
trol they  at  once  saw  its  strategic  value.  But  it  first 
takes  its  place  definitely  on  our  map,  at  the  treaty 
of  Greenville,  in  1795,  after  General  Wayne  had 
given  the  Indiana  redskins  a  drubbing.  By  this 
treaty  the  Pottawatomies  ceded  to  us  a  tract  six 
square  miles  in  extent,  lying  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Chicago  River. 

108 


FORT  DEARBORN  MASSACRE       109 

"The  next  official  mention,  I  think,  occurs  in  a 
military  order  signed  by  General  Dearborn,  who 
was  the  Secretary  of  War  in  President  Jefferson's 
cabinet.  He  ordered  a  company  of  soldiers  to  pro- 
ceed west  to  this  spot  and  build  a  fort.  This  was 
done,  and  the  new  stronghold  was  called,  in  his 
honor,  Fort  Dearborn.  The  stars  and  stripes  first 
flew  from  its  ramparts  in  the  year  1804.  That  is  one 
of  Chicago's  birthdays. 

"The  fort  itself  was  a  small  affair — merely  a 
blockhouse  or  two,  with  a  tight  little  parade  ground, 
and  the  whole  surrounded  by  a  palisade.  The 
garrison,  as  I  have  said,  consisted  of  a  single  com- 
pany of  about  fifty.  On  the  outside  of  the  fort  a  few 
houses  were  built  by  traders  and  settlers. 

"Such  was  the  state  of  things  here  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  War  of  1812  with  England.  This  war,  while 
fought  mostly  on  the  sea  and  in  the  East,  yet  had 
its  dire  echoes  out  in  the  wilderness.  The  American 
forces  in  New  England  had  tried  to  invade  Canada 
and  failed.  The  British,  on  their  part,  captured  the 
fort  at  Detroit  and  thus  controlled  the  Great  Lakes 
region.  They  supplied  the  Indians  with  firearms 
and  whisky — a  dangerous  combination — and  once 
more  the  northern  tribes  menaced  every  white 
family  in  the  country. 

"As  for  Fort  Dearborn,  it  lay  open  for  attack  by 
land  or  water  and  could  not  be  reinforced  by  the 
Americans;  so  General  Hull,  who  was  then  in 
charge  of  the  Northwest  army,  sent  orders  to  Cap- 


110  ILLINOIS 

tain  Nathan  Heald,  the  commander  of  the  little 
garrison,  to  evacuate  the  fort  and  distribute  its 
supplies,  such  as  he  would  not  need  on  the  march  to 
Fort  Wayne,  among  the  friendly  Indians.  This 
order  was  carried  by  Winnemeg  or  Catfish,  a 
friendly  Pottawatomie,  who  advised  him  to  disre- 
gard the  order. 

"  'Your  fort  is  strong  enough  to  hold  out  against 
an  attack  or  a  siege,'  he  said;  'and  a  retreat 
would  be  full  of  peril.  And  if  you  should  give  your 
goods  away  to  the  Indians,  they  would  say  it  was  a 
sign  of  weakness.' 

"  'I  do  not  think  so,'  replied  the  Captain.  'By  so 
doing  we  will  obtain  their  good  will,  and  be  allowed 
to  proceed  to  Fort  Wayne  in  safety.' 

"But  the  wise  Indian  shook  his  head.  'If  you 
must  go,'  he  said,  'go  at  once.  Do  not  wait  to  advise 
the  Indians,  or  to  try  to  buy  them  with  gifts.' 

"Captain  Heald,  however,  chose  to  disregard  this 
good  advice,  even  though  seconded  by  his  junior 
officers,  who  did  not  trust  the  Indians.  He  called 
a  council  of  the  neighboring  tribes,  and  told  them 
he  would  leave  the  fort  in  their  hands,  and  furnish 
them  with  supplies,  if  they  would  give  him  an 
escort  of  warriors.  The  wily  savages  put  their  heads 
together,  and  told  him  his  words  sounded  good. 
The  council  was  held  on  the  12th  day  of  August, 
1812.  Two  days  later,  when  the  goods  were  dis- 
tributed, the  Indians,  instead  of  showing  satisfaction, 
were  surly  and  angry  because  their  gifts  were  only 


FORT  DEARBORN  MASSACRE       111 

calico,  paint,  and  other  wares  of  this  nature;  and 
no  guns,  ammunition,  or  'fire  water.'  So  threatening 
did  they  become  that  plans  were  made  to  march  out 
of  the  fort  on  the  morrow.  Their  plans  were 
further  hastened  by  the  arrival  of  Captain  Wells 
with  fifteen  friendly  Miamis,  who  had  come  to 
escort  them  to  Fort  Wayne.  When  he  saw  the 
Indians  already  rioting  among  the  stores,  he  knew 
that  every  moment  of  delay  was  dangerous. 

"As  we  look  back  at  it  now,"  said  Uncle  John, 
pausing  in  his  story,"  the  whole  proceeding  seems 
foolish.  The  garrison  not  only  left  a  well-protected 
fort,  but  did  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  invite  attack. 
Though,  of  course,  it  is  easy  to  judge  a  thing  by  its 
after  events. 

"The  fatal  morning  of  the  15th  dawned  clear  and 
bright.  Outwardly  all  was  at  peace.  The  rays  of 
the  morning  sun  danced  merrily  on  the  placid  waters 
of  the  lake.  The  Indians  had  quit  their  grumbling, 
and  brought  to  the  gates  of  the  fort  a  band  of  five 
hundred  warriors  to  march  with  them  on  their 
retreat.  At  nine  o'clock  the  gates  were  thrown  open, 
and  with  flags  flying  and  bugles  blowing  the  soldiers 
and  their  families  set  out  on  the  march.  In  their 
advance  guard  were  the  Miamis  and  their  leader, 
Captain  Wells,  who  had  his  face  blackened  like 
their  own.  Behind  them  came  the  garrison  with 
loaded  arms,  and  a  few  wagons  with  the  sick  and 
the  women  and  children.  In  their  rear  came  the 
treacherous  Pottawatomies. 


112  ILLINOIS 

"They  took  the  route  down  the  shore  of  the  lake, 
and  had  not  gone  two  miles  when  the  redskins  began 
to  circle  round  them.  Seeing  this,  Captain  Wells 
came  back  exclaiming:  'They  are  about  to  attack 
us;  form  instantly  and  charge  them!'  At  once 
Captain  Heald  put  his  men  in  battle  array,  but  the 
Indians  began  firing  on  every  side.  They  were 
attacking  from  behind  some  sand  dunes,  so  that  the 
soldiers  were  almost  helpless.  Worse  still,  an  attack 
was  made  upon  the  women  and  children.  Within 
half  an  hour,  two-thirds  of  that  band  of  ninety-three 
white  persons  were  killed  or  wounded,  and  the  rest 
made  prisoners.  Wells  was  killed,  and  Heald 
wounded  and  made  captive." 

No  sound  came  from  his  auditors,  as  Uncle  John 
again  paused,  except  a  little  sigh  from  Edna.  Then 
her  Uncle  drew  from  his  pocket  his  faithful  note- 
book, and  opened  it. 

"I  ran  across  a  story  of  one  of  the  survivors,  Mrs. 
Helm,  wife  of  a  lieutenant,  which  is  very  graphic," 
he  said.  "Here  are  bits  of  it:  'Our  horses  pranced 
and  bounded,  and  could  hardly  be  restrained,  as  the 
balls  whistled  around  them.  I  drew  off  a  little  and 
gazed  on  my  husband  and  father,  who  were  yet 
unharmed.  I  felt  that  my  hour  was  come,  and  en- 
deavored to  forget  those  I  loved,  and  prepare  for 
my  approaching  fate.  While  I  wras  thus  engaged, 
the  surgeon,  Dr.  Voorhees,  came  up,  badly  wounded. 
His  horse  had  been  shot  under  him,  and  he  had 
received  a  ball  in  the  leg,  and  every  muscle  of  his 


I     I     .-.  AtlullJJS 


>.*»,      „^ 


The  Men  United  to  Roll  the  Logs  in  Place 

[See  page  120] 


FORT  DEARBORN  MASSACRE       115 

countenance  was  quivering  with  agony.  "Oh,  I 
cannot  die,  I  am  not  fit  to  die!"  he  exclaimed.  "If 
I  had  but  a  short  time  to  prepare — death  is  awful!" 
I  pointed  to  Ensign  Rowan  who,  though  mortally 
wounded  and  nearly  down,  was  still  desperately 
fighting  with  an  Indian,  on  one  knee.  "Look  at  that 
man,"  said  I;  "at  least  he  dies  like  a  soldier!" 

"  'At  this  moment  a  young  Indian  raised  his 
tomahawk  at  me.  By  springing  aside  I  avoided  the 
blow,  which  was  aimed  at  my  skull,  but  which 
descended  on  my  shoulder.  I  seized  him  around  the 
neck,  and  while  exerting  my  utmost  efforts  to  get 
possession  of  his  scalping  knife,  which  hung  in  a 
scabbard  over  his  breast,  I  was  dragged  from  his 
grasp  by  another  and  older  Indian.  The  latter  bore 
me  struggling  and  resisting  to  the  lake.  Notwith- 
standing the  rapidity  with  which  I  was  hurried 
along,  I  recognized  as  I  passed  them  the  lifeless 
remains  of  the  unfortunate  surgeon.  Some  murder- 
ous tomahawk  had  stretched  him  upon  the  very  spot 
where  I  had  last  seen  him.' 

"The  Indian  who  had  captured  Mrs.  Helm," 
resumed  Uncle  John,  "dragged  her  into  the  water, 
and  she  supposed  her  last  moments  had  come — that 
it  was  his  intention  to  drown  her.  But  what  was  her 
amazement,  on  looking  up,  to  recognize  despite  his 
war  paint  a  former  friend,  the  chief  Black  Partridge. 
Now  he  proved  himself  still  her  friend.  He  kept 
her  head  above  water  and  when  the  firing  had  ceased 
carried  her  back  to   shore  unharmed.     Later  the 


116  ILLINOIS 

Indians  who  held  her  captive  showed  her  other  un- 
pected  kindnesses,  and  she  was  overjoyed  to  learn 
that  both  her  father  and  her  husband  had  escaped 
with  their  lives. 

"Captain  Heald  tried  to  retrieve  his  fatal  blunder 
by  fighting  with  the  greatest  courage.  He  was 
wounded  twice,  before  being  overpowered  by  a 
dozen  savages.  Mrs.  Heald,  his  wife,  also  fought 
like  a  true  soldier's  wife.  She  was  wounded  seven 
times,  but  not  fatally.  The  horse  she  rode  was  a 
beautiful  animal,  and  the  Indians  did  not  want  to 
injure  it;  so  they  shot  at  the  rider.  As  she  finally 
toppled  from  the  saddle,  a  redskin  tore  off  her  bonnet 
and  tried  to  scalp  her.  But  his  arm  was  arrested  by 
that  of  another  friendly  Indian,  who  had  known  the 
family  in  the  days  of  peace,  and  after  much  parley 
her  life  was  spared  on  promise  of  a  ransom. 

"In  the  course  of  years,  a  city  sprang  up  on  the 
site  of  old  Fort  Dearborn,  and  as  it  grew  along  the 
borders  of  the  lake,  it  took  in  also  the  sands  washed 
by  the  blood  of  the  victims  of  this  massacre.  To-day 
a  monument  marks  the  spot — a  story  in  stone  show- 
ing the  rescue  of  Mrs.  Helm  by  Black  Partridge 
from  the  tomahawk  of  the  murderous  savage." 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  DAWN  OF  STATEHOOD 

IT  was  the  last  evening  in  camp.  Edna  and 
Howard  had  just  come  in  from  a  sunset  canoe 
trip,  by  way  of  farewell  to  their  Summer.  In  the 
morning  they  would  pack  their  belongings  in  the 
car,  and  with  the  faithful  canoe  lashed  across  the 
top,  hie  themselves  back  to  civilization.  Now  as 
they  sat  around  the  fire,  it  was  with  a  feeling  of 
regret  that  none  tried  to  conceal. 

"One  more  story,  Uncle  John,"  pleaded  Edna.  "I 
have  the  doldrums  to-night;  and  besides  we  don't 
want  to  leave  off  with  that  dreadful  massacre!" 

"Same  here,"  echoed  Howard;  "let's  get  the 
redskins  out  of  the  country,  anyhow,  before  we  go 
home!" 

"Good  idea,"  agreed  their  Uncle.  "I  have  just 
time  to  do  that  and  to  tell  you  what  happened  before 
Illinois  put  her  star  on  the  flag  of  the  Union,  as  a 
State.  It  comprises  only  half  a  dozen  years  from 
the  time  we  left  off  describing,  but  they  were  years 
of  very  great  importance.  The  year  1812  saw  this 
country  still  overrun  with  lawless  tribes  of  Indians; 
the  year  1818  saw  it  a  State. 

117 


118  ILLINOIS 

"During  the  remaining  months  of  the  war  with 
England,  things  looked  very  dark  indeed.  The 
massacre  at  Fort  Dearborn  was  not  the  only  bloody 
attack  on  the  part  of  the  savages,  although  it  was 
the  largest.  To  protect  themselves,  a  body  of 
mounted  militia  was  organized,  called  the  Rangers, 
and  a  chain  of  blockhouse  forts  was  built  for  sixty 
miles,  from  the  Kaskaskia  to  the  Mississippi.  These 
men  knew  the  Indians'  method  of  fighting,  and  met 
them  on  their  own  ground.  Battles  were  fought  at 
Prairie  du  Chien,  Rock  Island,  Peoria,  and  near 
Vandalia  before  the  end  of  hostilities.  Many  an 
exciting  tale  is  told  of  brushes  with  the  Indians, 
sometimes  by  single  families,  and  again  by  larger 
forces.  But  we  have  not  time  to  dwell  longer  on 
that  troublous  time  now. 

"With  the  dawn  of  peace,  in  1815,  brighter  times 
came.  The  turbulent  tribes,  left  without  their 
English  allies,  retreated  across  the  Mississippi. 
Others  made  their  peace  and,  except  for  petty 
inroads,  behaved  pretty  well  as  a  whole.  Mean- 
while, settlers  began  coming  rapidly  to  live  here. 
Some  had  been  Rangers,  who  first  got  acquainted 
with  the  land  while  patrolling  it.  Others  came 
across  country  from  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  North 
Carolina.  They  were  a  sturdy  and  self-reliant 
stock." 

"Tell  us  something  about  the  way  they  lived," 
asked  Edna. 

"If  you  could  have  seen  a  group  of  these  folks 


THE  DAWN  OF  STATEHOOD        119 

moving  in,  you  might  have  thought  them  a  rough- 
looking  lot,"  replied  Uncle  John.  "And  yet  that 
wasn't  so  far  back — only  a  little  over  a  century  ago. 
It  would  have  been  hard  to  tell  some  of  the  men 
from  their  Indian  neighbors.  Living  out  in  the  open 
with  them,  the  men  had  copied  Indian  ways  and 
dress.  They  wore  buckskin  trousers  with  fringed 
leggings,  loose  hunting  shirt  also  possibly  fringed, 
a  fur  cap  with  the  tail  of  the  animal  hanging  down 
behind,  moccasins,  and  a  belt  which  held  a  long 
knife  and  perhaps  a  tomahawk.  A  long  rifle  which 
the  pioneer  could  shoot  with  deadly  accuracy  com- 


Battles  Were  Fought  at  Prairie  du  Chien 


120  ILLINOIS 

pleted  the  outfit  while  on  the  trail.    The  women  and 
girls  wore  homespun  clothes  and  bonnets. 

"The  settlers  came  overland  by  wagons  with 
covered  tops,  drawn  by  horses  or  oxen.  When  they 
reached  a  spot  which  suited  them,  the  family  would 
live  in  the  wagon  until  a  log  cabin  could  be  built. 
Two  or  more  families  would  help  each  other  in 
making  a  home — the  men  uniting  to  roll  the  logs  up 
into  place.  No  nails  whatever  were  used.  The  logs 
were  held  in  place  with  notches  and  wooden  pins, 
and  the  cracks  stopped  with  mud.  Even  the  doors — 
hinges,  latch  and  all — would  be  made  of  wood. 
Inside  the  furnishings  were  of  the  barest.  A  big 
hearth  and  chimney  at  one  end  served  the  double 
purpose  of  warmth  and  cooking.  A  home-made 
table  and  stools,  fashioned  from  split  logs  with  peg 
legs,  were  about  all  the  furniture.  A  pile  of  ever- 
green boughs  in  the  corner,  piled  with  furs  and 
skins,  was  the  bed. 

"There  was  lots  of  hard  work  for  everybody.  The 
land  had  to  be  cleared,  plowed,  and  planted.  Rails 
had  to  be  split  for  fences.  Only  a  few  years  later,  a 
lank  young  fellow  named  Abe  Lincoln  became 
known  all  over  the  nation  as  a  great  'rail  splitter.' 
Everything  that  the  family  wore  they  must  make; 
and  everything  they  ate  they  had  to  get  unaided. 
Fortunately,  Illinois  had  always  been  a  great  game 
country,  and  there  was  little  danger  of  starving. 
Until  their  land  began  to  produce,  the  men  were 
more  hunters  than  farmers — like  the  Indians. 


THE  DAWN  OF  STATEHOOD        121 

"The  first  pioneers — those  that  came  in  before  the 
year  1800 — were  backwoodsmen,  rough  and  ready. 
They  knew  how  to  fight,  and  how  to  hunt,  but  cared 
little  for  tilling  the  soil,  or  for  building  towns.  In 
fact,  they  got  nervous  if  another  man  built  within 
twenty  miles  of  them.  They  did  not  like  to  be 
'crowded!'  Like  the  Indians,  they  wanted  the 
country  kept  open  for  a  hunting  ground.  Most  of 
them  did  not  know  one  letter  from  another.  But 
with  the  arrival  of  settlers  from  the  Atlantic  States, 
a  better  element  crept  in.  They  were  God-fearing 
folk  who  wanted  schools  and  churches,  and  who 
looked  forward  to  a  community  life.  So  they  went 
to  the  river  towns,  where  travel  back  and  forth  was 
easier  than  in  the  great  open  spaces,  and  for  a  long 
time  did  not  occupy  the  prairie.  The  first  towns, 
you  will  find,  were  on  the  rivers. 

"After  a  while,  immigrants  from  Ireland  and 
England  began  to  make  their  way  into  the  new 
country.  They  were  thrifty,  industrious,  and  law- 
abiding,  and  made  good  citizens.  After  1815,  the 
Germans  also  came  in,  and  were  no  less  successful 
as  good  colonizers.  Log  schoolhouses  began  to 
appear  here  and  there;  and  the  circuit  rider,  or 
traveling  preacher,  went  from  hamlet  to  hamlet, 
often  preaching  in  three  or  four  places  on  a  single 
Sunday. 

"To  this  time,  which  we  may  call  the  dawn  of 
Statehood,  belong  the  first  church  buildings,  the 
first  mail  route  across  from  Vincennes  to  Kaskaskia, 


122  ILLINOIS 

the  first  newspaper,  The  Illinois  Herald,  published 
in  Kaskaskia  about  1814,  and  last  but  not  least  the 
first  steamboat,  in  1817.  With  the  use  of  steam  to 
propel  boats,  then  still  in  its  infancy,  the  great  river 
from  the  Gulf  and  New  Orleans  north  to  St.  Louis, 
began  to  be  traveled  regularly.  This  meant  an  ex- 
change of  the  products  of  the  farm  and  the  wilder- 
ness for  many  luxuries — cotton,  wool,  silk,  sugar, 
cofTee,  tea,  and  many  other  desirable  things. 

"In  the  year  1809,  Illinois  had  been  cut  away  from 
Indiana  Territory,  by  an  act  of  Congress,  and  made 
a  separate  Territory.  The  capital  was  Kaskaskia, 
and  President  Madison  appointed  Ninian  Edwards 
the  first  governor.  But  with  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
country,  the  people  became  clamorous  for  State- 
hood. In  1818  they  claimed  a  population  of  40,000, 
and  it  is  said  that  they  counted  every  stray  hunter 
who  crossed  the  river.  At  any  rate,  they  sent  a 
petition  to  Congress,  who  let  down  the  bars  a  bit  as 
to  the  number  required,  and  in  April  of  that  year 
an  Enabling  Act  was  passed.  On  December  3,  1818, 
Illinois  was  formally  admitted  into  the  Union. 
Meanwhile,  a  constitutional  convention  had  met  in 
Kaskaskia,  and  ratified  a  constitution,  August  26. 

"Nothing  remained  except  to  choose  officers  and 
set  up  the  State  machinery.  The  first  governor  to 
be  elected  by  popular  vote  was  Shadrach  Bond. 
And  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  his  assistant,  or  lieu- 
tenant-governor, was  of  the  old  French  stock,  one 
who  could  hardly  speak  a  word  of  English,  Pierre 


THE  DAWN  OF  STATEHOOD        123 

Menard.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  was  a  fitting  recog- 
nition of  the  great  part  the  French  had  played  in 
the  first  settlement  of  the  country.  A  few  months 
later,  Vandalia  was  chosen  as  the  site  of  the  capital, 
and  remained  the  seat  of  government  for  seventeen 
years,  until  a  young  lawyer  Abraham  Lincoln,  with 
others,  persuaded  the  legislature  to  remove  (in 
1837)  to  the  more  central  town  of  Springfield. 

"And  so  with  Illinois  as  a  State  we  bring  our  story 
to  a  close." 

Uncle  John  stopped  and  looked  thoughtfully  into 
the  fire.  The  last  ember  was  glowing  brightly,  and 
its  ruddy  glare  reflected  into  each  face.  Howard 
was  the  first  to  break  the  silence,  after  drawing  a 
long  breath. 

"Seems  just  like  we  had  been  on  a  voyage  of  dis- 
covery," he  said.  "We  came  here  with  the  woods 
full  of  Indians,  and  watched  the  Frenchmen  paddle 
down  the  river.  Then  we  watched  the  other  fellows 
fight  it  out  to  decide  who  was  to  own  the  land ;  and 
now  we  are  in  an  honest-to-goodness  State.  I'm  glad 
I  live  in  Illinois!" 

"That's  just  what  I  was  thinking,"  said  Edna, 
with  shining  eyes. 


ILLINOIS 

By  thy  rivers  gently  flowing, 

Illinois,   Illinois, 
O'er  thy  prairies,  verdant  growing, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
Comes  an  echo  on  the  breeze, 
Rustling  through  the  leafy  trees, 
And  its  mellow  tones  are  these, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
And  its  mellow  tones  are  these, 

Illinois,  Illinois. 

O'er  wilderness  of  prairies, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
Straight  thy  way  and  never  varies. 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
Till  upon  the  inland  sea 
Stands  Chicago  great  and  free, 
Turning  all  the  world  to  thee, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
Turning  all  the  world  to  thee, 

Illinois,  Illinois. 

When  you  heard  your  country  calling, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
When  the  shot  and  shell  were  falling, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
When  the  Southern  host  withdrew, 
Pitting  Gray  against  the  Blue, 
'    125 


126  ILLINOIS 


There  were  none  more  brave  than  you, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
There  were  none  more  brave  than  you, 

Illinois,  Illinois. 

Not  without  thy  wondrous  story, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
Can  be  writ  the  Nation's  glory, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
On  the  record  of  the  years 
Abra'm  Lincoln's  name  appears, 
Grant  and  Logan,  and  our  tears, 

Illinois,  Illinois, 
Grant  and  Logan,  and  our  tears, 

Illinois,  Illinois.1 


From  "Illinois  History  Stories,"  W.  H.  Campbell,  Appleton. 


MILESTONES 

1608.  Quebec  founded  by  Champlain. 

1665.  Allouez  founded  first  white  settlement  on  Lake  Superior. 

1673.  Marquette  and  Joliet  explore  the  Mississippi  and  found 

first  mission. 
1679.  La  Salle  reaches  Illinois,  and  builds  Fort  Crevecoeur. 
1682.  La  Salle  discovers  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi. 
1700.  Kaskaskia  founded. 

1717.  The  Company  of  the  West  takes  control. 

1718.  Fort  Chartres  built. 

1754.  The  French  and  Indian  War  begins. 

1763.  Illinois  ceded  to  the  English. 

1772.  Fort  Chartres  abandoned. 

1778.  George  Rogers  Clark  takes  Kaskaskia. 

1783.  Virginia  cedes  Illinois  to  the  United  States. 

1787.  The  Northwest  Territory  organized. 

1800.  Illinois  becomes  a  part  of  Indiana  Territory. 

1804.  Fort  Dearborn  built. 

1809.  Illinois  made  a  Territory. 

1812.  The  Fort  Dearborn  Massacre. 

1814.  The  first  newspaper  established. 

1817.  The  first  steamboat  reaches  St.  Louis. 

1818.  Illinois  reaches  Statehood. 

LATER  EVENTS 

1832.  The  Black  Hawk  War. 
1837.  Springfield  made  the  capital. 
1839.  The  first  railroad  reaches  Illinois. 

127 


128  ILLINOIS 

1844.  Persecution  of  the  Mormons. 

1848.  New  State  Constitution  adopted. 

1858.  The  Lincoln-Douglas  debates. 

1860.  Lincoln  nominated  for  President,  in  Chicago. 

1867.  Beginnings  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 

1870.  Present  State  Constitution  adopted. 

1871.  The  great  Chicago  fire. 
1886.  The  Haymarket  riots. 

1891.  University  of  Chicago  opens  its  doors. 
1893.  The  World's  Columbian  Exposition,  at  Chicago. 
1900.  Opening  of  the  Chicago  Drainage  Canal. 
1910.  Census  shows  a  population  of  5,638,591. 
1920.  Census  shows  a  population  of  6,485,280. 

Illinois  ranks  third  in  population,  among  States. 

Chicago  the  second  largest  city. 


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